Ms Mary said, "It's two days before Christmas, and here I am, delivering a bear in a grocery cart to my own stocking. Isn't it supposed to be Santa in a sleigh delivering you on Christmas Eve after I go to bed?" I nodded.
I said, "Santa Claus said that anyone who does something nice for someone else on Christmas is a Santa, too. And he asked if I would deliver myself to you when you came in the store. That would be a nice thing for me to do for him and for you, so that would make me a Santa. He said you would know what to do with me." She nodded.
Ms. Mary said, "'Twas two days before Christmas and, all through the apartment, not a creature was stirring, not even the restless one, 'cause they were all waiting to see if Ms. Mary would appear with a new bear in her sleigh, um, grocery cart, um, grocery bag." Then she looked at me and said, "You will not arrive in a grocery bag." My little heart slid all the way down to my toes. Ms. Mary smiled and rubbed my tummy. "You will arrive in my hand like a respectable member of the family. I will pop you into my stocking and you will have to stay there until Christmas morning." My little heart came back up and started beating so loud I'm surprised nobody in the store heard it.
Ms. Mary carried me into the apartment and told everybody that I was the Christmas stocking bear so they had to pretend they couldn't see me until after she went to bed Christmas Eve. She put a box of microwave popcorn and a little book in the stocking for me to stand on, so I could hang out the top of the stocking and see what was going on.
I got lots of winks and smiles from the other creatures in the family, but nobody said anything until after Ms. Mary went to bed Christmas Eve.