When I was a child, I wanted a BMX bike.
I’d seen kids at school — who’d brought their bikes with them — ride around and do tricks, standing on the pegs of their dirt-track racers. The bikes looked so cool and seemed so fluid as they rode around — much different than my banana-seated eyesore.
So I asked Santa. And hoped with all my heart.
Christmas morning, I awakened to an extraordinary thing. As usual, I not so much jumped out of bed as launched, and in my light blue, elastic-bottomed pajamas, I ran into the den. And there they were — displayed from wall to wall, presents for my sister and me. All ground-level. Knee-height. I scanned.
And scanned.
Until…there, reflecting light like a metallic-framed god, stood a silver BMX with black-and-white racing-checkered seat, pad, and grips. Hand brakes. Glory.
I was ecstatic.
I opened other presents, but I was changed. Everything I looked at, everything I found that I now owned, belonged to a BMXer. Not a banana-seat surfer. I’d scaled the wall of Awesome, to become this new creature.
All because of Santa Claus.
I wanted to two-wheel it to the North Pole to thank him, but that would’ve put me seriously late for lunch at my grandmother’s. So instead, I rode around the neighborhood.
I put my feet firmly on those triumphant pedals and rocketed down the driveway, turning left, running a stop sign like the rebel I now was. The wind flew past me like it was late for something. The temperature was crisp enough to heighten my senses but warm enough to be bettered by my brand new Santa-brought red jogging suit.
And I was free. Nothing could stop me. Nothing could contain me. I was on the road, exploring the world like a Wayfarer surveying the sea.
And life was good. And right. And Christmas was here. And I was liberated. From the drudgery of not having a BMX. Nothing would ever be the same again.
And it wasn’t.
What was yours? What was a gift Santa brought you, that split time in half? Or the same, given to you by a loved one?
Tell me. Tell us all. On this beautiful, crisp, lifechanging Christmas Day.
-Alex
**And if you missed it, please see the Christmas Miracle, here.
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