An ordinary classroom in winter.
“Everyone come on up and put your letter to Santa in the bag. Once you do, stand next to the Christmas tree,” Ms. Jeffries says while standing in front of her class. She thanks each student as they take turns placing their letters in the bag.
“Thank you, Patrece. Your outfit looks so cute. Thank you, Angelo, you look adorable.”
But when a young girl named Maria comes to place her letter in the bag, Ms. Jeffries changes her tone. There’s something about the girl that doesn’t seem quite right.
“Maria? What are you wearing? Your outfit looks terrible. It’s dirty and has holes in it…” she stammers. “I told you to wear something nice to the party.”
Maria tries to talk to respond to her teacher. But she only manages to mutter, “Sorry, Ms. Jeffries.”
“Well, you’re clearly not sorry enough to care,” Ms. Jeffries says with a sigh. “You’re going to ruin the holiday photo. Go stand in the back, behind Angelo and Patrece so no one can see that outfit.”
Ms. Jeffries sighs once again before greeting the other students in her classroom.
“Thank you, Adam. Thank you, Julia…”
After all the students have been lined up for the photo Ms. Jeffries goes through what each student brought for the class party.
“All right, before we begin, let’s make sure we have everything. Adam? It looks like you brought cookies. Great. And Jessica? I see you brought a pizza. Perfect. Maria? You were supposed to bring chips. I don’t see any chips.”
“I wasn’t able to bring chips,” Maria says in a nervous tone.
“What do you mean? We have been talking about this potluck for weeks,” Ms. Jeffries says.
“I know,” Maria says, “ What happened was—”
“We all know what happened. You forgot. I am so disappointed in you. Now, nobody at the party is going to be able to eat chips.”
“I’m sorry, Ms. Jeffries,” Maria says.
“Well, since you didn’t contribute anything, you can be the last in line to eat. Patrice? You can go first.”
After the students have their lunch, the teacher does another inventory. This time she goes over the gifts each student brought for the party.
“Wow, this is so cute. I love it.”
“That one is from me!” says a student named Angelo.
“Thank you, Angelo. What a great gift!” says Ms. Jeffries.
The teacher is in good spirits again after reviewing the gifts the students brought for each other. But then she sees something that looks strange.
“Maria? Did you bring this?” she says.
“Yeah. The note is the gift. I wrote it myself,” Maria says.
“But this is nothing but a worthless piece of paper,” the teacher says. “You were supposed to spend $20 on a gift.”
“I tried to,” Maria says before Ms. Jeffries cuts her off again.
“You didn’t try at all. First you show up wearing a mess of an outfit. You didn’t bring any food to the party and now, you haven’t even brought a gift. This is unacceptable.”
“I really wanted to but you see —”
“I don’t want to hear it. You keep this. I don’t want anyone else to get stuck with it.”
“Go ahead, Patrece. Choose another gift.”
Ms. Jeffries’ home
At the end of the school day, Ms. Jeffries returns home. She chats with her husband.
“Honey, how did it go?”
“It went fine except there was this one student named Maria. She didn’t bring anything to the party. It was like she didn’t even care,” she says.
“Well, maybe something else is going on? I mean, you never know what someone else might be going through,” he says.
Mr. Jeffries works night shift and gets up to leave for work. Ms. Jeffries reflects on the afternoon and thinks about whether she might’ve been too harsh on Maria.
At Maria’s house
Dear Santa,
My name is Maria. I don’t usually ask for much. But I can really use your help. My Mom just lost her job a few months ago and since Papa hasn’t been around, we’ve been having a hard time paying our bills. We’re barely getting by. Today, I was supposed to wear a nice outfit for our holiday party at school but all I have are my old clothes. Mom says we can’t afford new clothes. So, if you could bring me new clothes without any holes in them this year, I would really appreciate it.
I was also supposed to bring food to today’s potluck, but Mom says we barely have enough food to buy groceries. So, if you could please bring us some extra food that would be really nice. And one last thing, if it’s not too much to ask.
I was supposed to bring a Christmas gift for someone in my class. But Mom doesn’t have any money. Even if I don’t get any gifts this year, could you please get one for one of my classmates? That would mean so much to me, you see, my Mom and I are really struggling right now. I’m sorry that I am asking for so much.
Merry Christmas, Santa. Merry Christmas.
Maria begins to cry and has a hard time holding back her tears.
“I’m so sorry, I couldn’t bring any presents this year.”
Someone knocks at the door.
“Is this Maria’s home?” Ms. Jeffries says.
“Yes, and you are?” Maria’s mother says.
“I’m Ms. Jeffries, Maria’s teacher.”
“Oh, yes. Ms. Jeffries, what are you doing here?”
“Well, I came to deliver some packages,” she says before coming inside. “These came from the North Pole.”
“Really?” Maria asks.
“Well, let’s go open them,” Ms. Jeffries says.
“Wow, here’s some new clothing just like I asked for,” Maria says while laughing. “I absolutely love them. And here there’s food. Now, everyone can eat potato chips in our class! And oh my gosh—”
Maria gasps as she stares down at a brand new Teddy bear.
“I can give this to someone in our class!”
“Sweetheart,” Ms. Jeffries says, “this is all for you from me.”
“But I asked Santa to give a gift to someone in our class, not to me. Because I felt so bad. I ruined the whole party because I didn’t bring anything,” Maria says.
“No. I’m sorry. I should have never gotten made at you in the first place. I realize this now. You never know what someone else is going through. Do you think you could forgive me?” Ms. Jeffries says. “Please keep all these gifts because Santa said they were all for you.”
