A tale from this season

     En-route home after picking Benson up from work one day, he shared an incident from his day that I immediately knew I'd be sharing with all of you. Here it is.

     On this particular day, he had spent several hours working a register. (Yes, his job title reads "tech support" .... whole 'nother story some days). It was about two weeks before Christmas Day, and a mother with a young daughter came through his lane. He guessed the child to be about three (3) or four (4), and "she was causing her mother all kinds of grief". Benson explained that sometimes a mom with a kid or kids go through your lane and you want to grab ahold of the mom and remind her she's the mom!! YOUR suppose to be the one in control, not the one following instructions!!! But this time, he said that "it was very obvious the mom had just been pushed to the end of her rope. First the child had done this, and then that, and every time her mom had handled it, but you could tell she was about to snap!"
     Benson said he really felt sorry for the mom, "She WAS trying!". Then he got an idea. "You know, one of those ones that pop into your head and you just act on it". He had leaned forward towards the little girl "and in a lowered voice, yet just loud enough that the mom could hear me, I said, "You know, Santa's watching you right now."."
    The child had stopped in her tracks. Her eyes had widened hugely. She had kind of looked around, and yet seemed afraid to. And she'd gone totally silent. He had smiled.
     The mom however had at first seemed kind of taken aback, and Benson thought "oh no. Now I'm going to hear how they don't do the Santa thing ...". But then as the child had straightened right up, the mom had given Benson a conspiritual wink (with the eye on the opposite side of the child) and said, "I like your style". He had smiled and said, "glad to be of service Mam. Merry Christmas!".