Twenty Years Ago, I Played Santa for a Little Girl – This Christmas, She Came Back for Me

I blinked fast, trying not to cry.

“How did you find me?”

“You’ll see,” she said, glancing toward the street. “Please, would you come with me? There’s something I want to show you.”

I hesitated.

But something in her eyes pulled me in.

Her car was warm and quiet. A soft instrumental carol played through the speakers.

I kept watching her hands on the wheel, trying to piece it all together.

“You remember that day?” I finally asked.

“I remember everything about the kind elf who made that Christmas unforgettable. And so does my mom.”

The drive was only about 45 minutes, but my thoughts kept spinning.

Questions I didn’t know how to ask piled up in my throat.

“How did you really find me?” I pressed.

She didn’t answer immediately. “You’ll know soon… I promise.”

We pulled up to a large two-story house wrapped in string lights.

It looked like something out of a holiday movie.

I followed her inside, my heart pounding.

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