The Moth Podcast: Gifts and Gratitude
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Welcome to The Moth Podcast. I'm Christina Norman. I don't know about you, but I find this time of year just a little bit stressful. It's not the constant Santa ads on TV. It's not the long, dark days. It's the pressure to give the perfect gift to everyone you love. If you celebrate the holidays at all, it can be totally nerve-wracking. What if my BFF's enthusiasm for tinned French sardines doesn't match mine? And what if I spend too much money, or worse yet, too little, on my office's white elephant gift? What if my brother doesn't like the whiskey stones I got him? I mean, that's just a joke. Please don't get your brother whiskey stones. Trust me. On this episode, we have two stories about giving gifts and what you receive in return. Oh, and don't worry. Even though one story mentions Santa, it doesn't reveal any of the big guy's secrets. First up, Stephanie Garibaldi, who told this at a Moth Story Slam in Washington, D.C. Here's Stephanie, live at the Moth.
I have always hated visiting the mall Santa. As a shy kid, I much preferred writing a letter. It seemed much more civilized than sitting on a strange man's lap and making demands. My parents would drag me anyway, and when Santa would invariably ask what I wanted for Christmas, I would just mumble something like, whatever you have in the sleigh is fine. As a parent, it wasn't any better. You waited in a huge line to pay a huge amount of money for a photo of your kid sitting on a stranger's lap, either grimacing, fake smiling, or worse, out and out crying. So I was pretty relieved when I thought that my daughter at age nine had maybe outgrown the whole visiting Santa thing. So I just didn't take her that year.
Only imagine my horror, three days before Christmas, she says, Mom, I need to tell Santa something. Can you bring me to him? Okay, as a single mom, I have already gotten her whatever presents I'm going to manage to get her. They're neatly wrapped, ribbons and bows, and they're hidden away ready for Christmas morning. So I'm kind of panicking because, you know, she's going to make some big request of like the hot toy that you can't get anymore three days before Christmas. This is not good. So I try a strategy. I say, you know, I'm in pretty tight with Santa, so why don't you tell me, and I'll pass it along to Santa. But she says, no, this is so important. I need to tell him face to face. So we take her two days before Christmas. The line is longer than ever. We finally get up to the front, and she jumps right up there. And it's like she is ready for that first question. He says, so have you been a good girl this year? And she's like, oh, yes, I've been very good. So good that you're probably going to bring me a lot of presents. But here's the thing, Santa.
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