A Christmas Wish Come True

Christmas is my favorite time of the year! I love shopping for my loved ones!

Jessie Jones, JJ to her friends, was at the mall shopping on Christmas Eve lights marking the last few gifts off of her list and admiring all of the lights and decorations. As she walked through the halls admiring the lights, the laughter of kids, and those yelling at their parents what they wanted, she couldn’t help but think about one-day finding love and having kids of her own. She loved shopping for her parents, siblings, their spouses, and their kids, but she couldn’t wait to shop for her own. Her sister had one little girl age three and her brother had a boy age seven and a daughter age five.

She had bought a cashmere sweater for her sister and her sister-in-law. She also got them both a beauty bag gift set from Mac. Her brother and brother-in-law bought each a football jersey of their favorite team's quarterbacks and tickets to see their teams play against each other in January. She wished she could see them in action while they were there! She continued to look for her parents and her nephew and niece's gifts. 

As she continued to walk around, she saw Santa sitting in the center of the mall, like he did every year. She stood and watched the kids in line sit on his lap, tell him what they wanted for Christmas this year and answer the question he always asked, ‘have you been naughty or nice this year?’. The kids always said they had been nice of course! She must have been standing there for quite some time just admiring the scenery. Every child’s face lit up when they went to sit on his lap. She so much wanted a family of her own. A man that loved her more than anything. Someone she could spend the rest of her life with and have kids with.

“Ma’am. Ma’am,” she heard someone say.

It took her a few minutes to realize the woman was talking to her. It was Santa’s helper.

“Yes,” JJ said.

“Santa wants to know if you would like a picture,” the lady asked.

“Oh, I don’t think I am young enough to sit on Santa’s lap,” she replied.

“Well, you don’t have to sit on his lap! Most adults just stand behind him and tell him what they want for Christmas! Go ahead. You are not the first and won’t be the last I’m sure,” the helper replied laughing.

“Well, I guess I can do that! I wonder if he will make my Christmas wish come true,” she said playing along.

She walked up behind Santa and he asked, “What is your name?”

She answered, “My friends call me JJ, Santa.”

“Well, JJ, have you been a good girl this year?” Santa asked.

“I think I have Santa,” she replied.

“Well, then JJ, what is your Christmas wish? What is it that I can give you,” Santa asked.

“My Christmas wish is I want to fall in love with a man that wants to spend the rest of his life with me and has kids with me,” she said in a serious tone. It was if all the playing along and joking had just gone out of me and I really believed that he could make my wish come true.

“That’s a big wish. But there is nothing that can’t be done on the one magical night of the year,” Santa said.

She just shook her head in agreement and they took a photo. She bought the picture, if for no other reason than to remember how silly she was sure she sounded asking Santa to grant her wish to find love.

She went on down the hall and found the rest of her gifts for her family. She really was excited about Christmas dinner and gift sharing tomorrow afternoon. She couldn’t wait to see the kids open all of their gifts. She went out to the car and put all of the gifts inside the trunk when she realized that she needed to get her best friend Sammy a gift. She looked at her watch and she had forty-five minutes left before the mall closed. She walked as quickly as she could down to the department store. She grabbed a really cute Michael Kors bag, paid for it, and then headed to the restroom with ten minutes to spare. As she was leaving the restroom she slipped and fell on the wet floor hitting her head.

JJ went to get up off the floor and started walking through the mall towards the door where she had parked. She realized that the gates were already down on the stores and the main lights were off. She looked at her watch and in shock, she noticed the mall had been closed for an hour. The fall must have knocked her out cold. She was praying all the way to the doors that even if no one could get in, that maybe she could still get out. But no such luck. She was stuck.

Well isn’t this going to be an embarrassing call to 911, she thought.

She pulled out her cell phone and called 911.

The operator answered, “911. What’s your emergency?”

“Yes, my name is Jesse Jones and I am at Palm Blue Mall. I was shopping and slipped coming out of the restrooms and I must have hit my head really hard. I woke up and the mall was already closed. I know this is a silly call, but can someone come get me?”

“Okay, Miss Jones. First, let’s make sure you are okay. You said you fell and hit your head because when you got up from the fall the mall was closed. Can you tell me about how long you were unconscious?” the operator asked.

“About thirty minutes as far as I can tell,” she replied.

“Okay, how do you feel? Do you have a headache or nausea? Can you tell me if you have a knot on your head?” asked the operator.

“Yes, to the headache, don’t feel a knot, and a little nauseated,” she responded.

“Okay, I have paramedics on their way to you now. I have also got an officer on her way to assist with them getting inside the building in case we can’t get in touch with the landlords to unlock the door,” the operator said, “Please sit down. Don’t stand. And can you tell me what entrance you are in?”

“Yes, I am in the entrance between Belk and Dillard,” she said.

“Okay stay on the phone with me until the paramedics arrive,” the operator said.

“Okay. Thank you,” she replied as she started to look for a place to sit down. There were no chairs so she slid down in the corner of the wall to wait on the paramedics and the office to arrive. Every sixty seconds the 911 operator would ask if she was okay. About five minutes had passed when she heard the sirens.

“I hear the sirens now,” she said to the operator.

“Okay, that’s great news. They should be pulling in now,” said the operator.

As soon as the operator got the words out she saw the ambulance and the patrol car pull up at the door. She got up and walked over and stood in front of it. The officer was the first to reach the door.

“Ma’am we were not able to get with the landlord yet to unlock the door. How are you feeling?” the officer asked.

“When I got up just now, I felt really dizzy,” she responded.

“Okay, we are going to break the glass in order to get you out,” the officer said as a fire truck pulled in, “Go ahead and back away from the door.”

She backed away from the door as a fireman came up to the glass with some sort of metal tool and slammed it into the door.

The next thing she knew there were two paramedics at my side with a gurney helping me onto it. The male paramedic was so handsome. He started taking my vitals and asking her how she was feeling. She told him about the dizziness, nausea, and headache. They got her into the back of the ambulance and took her to the hospital. When they pulled into the ER, the paramedic said, “if it is okay with you, I would like to come to check on you when I get off in an hour.”

She wasn’t sure why he wanted to check on her, but she said yes without really thinking about it.

She ended up spending most of Christmas Day in the ER with the paramedic, whose name was Mark.

Mark ended up driving her to her parents and they insisted that he stay for dinner for him taking such good care of her.

It was the start of a wonderful relationship.

A year later they were married on Christmas and expecting their first child seven months later. She had never been happier. Santa had granted her Christmas wish and it had come true on Christmas Day. She had met her soulmate, fell in love, got married a year later, and was expecting her first child.

Christmas Eve truly is the most magical day of the year!