Chicken Soup for Santa

When I was a kid we always put out the traditional plate of cookies and glass of milk for Santa. But one year when I was five or six, I was getting ready to put out the cookies and milk before I went to bed and I discovered we were out of cookies! I was devasted. I was sure Santa was not going to stop at our house if there wasn't cookies ready for him. My mom, being very creative, came up with a quick solution. She explained to me that Santa would be very appreciative of something hot to warm his belly. She told me that because it was cold outside, soup would be a special treat for Santa. All the kids leave out cookies, but couldn't I imagine how sick he would get of just eating cookies! She convinced me that leftover chicken soup from dinner would be even better than cookies. I thought it was a great idea. It sure seemed to make sense when she explained it to me. In fact I wondered why we hadn't thought of that idea sooner. Of course, Christmas came and Santa delivered his usual stash of presents and I forgot about the soup until the following Christmas. Then as my Mom tells the story, I woke up early on Christmas Eve morning to make sure my mom was making chicken soup for Santa. From that time on it has become tradition that we always have chicken soup on Christmas Eve and Santa always gets a piping hot bowl of soup and a glass of milk.

~Rose R., Eau Claire, WI