{"id":2104,"date":"2025-12-05T13:27:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T13:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/?p=2104"},"modified":"2025-12-08T21:49:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T21:49:37","slug":"a-red-coat-for-bobby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/a-red-coat-for-bobby\/","title":{"rendered":"A Red Coat for Bobby"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Special thanks to Sun followers Lou and Donna Baldeman for sharing this heartwarming tale they sent to me as a Christmas card. I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll enjoy it just as much as I did.\\<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit Grandma on the day my brother dropped the shattering bomb: \u201cThere is no Santa Claus\u201d he jeered. \u201cEven dummies know that!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her \u201cworld-famous\u201d cinnamon buns. I knew they were world-famous, because Grandma said so. It had to be true. Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. In between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me. \u201cNo Santa Claus\u201d she snorted, \u201cRidiculous! Don\u2019t believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad!! Now, put on your coat, and let\u2019s go.\u201d \u201cGo? Go Where, Grandma?\u201d I asked. I hadn\u2019t even had a chance to finish my second world- famous warm cinnamon bun.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Where\u2019 turned out to be Newberry\u2019s General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we walked through the store\u2019s big old wooden doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days. \u201cHere, take this money,\u201d she said, \u201cand buy something for someone who needs it. I\u2019ll wait for you in the car.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then she turned and walked out of Newberry\u2019s. I was only eight years old. I\u2019d often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and so very crowded, full of people scrambling to finish up with their Christmas shopping.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten-dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for. I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids at school, the people who went to my church. I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock\u2019s second grade class.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bobby Decker didn\u2019t have a coat. I knew that because he never went out to recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew that Bobby Decker didn\u2019t have a cough; he just didn\u2019t have a good coat.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby Decker a coat! I settled on a nice red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked really warm, and he would like that.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIs this a Christmas present for someone?\u201d the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down. \u201cYes, ma\u2019am,\u201d I replied shyly, \u201cfor Bobby\u201d. The nice lady smiled at me as I told her about how Bobby really needed a good winter coat. I didn\u2019t get any change, but she put the coat in a bag, smiled again, and wished me a Merry Christmas.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That evening, as Grandma helped me wrap the coat a little tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We wrapped it in Christmas paper and ribbons and wrote on it, \u201cTo Bobby, From Santa Claus\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over to Bobby Decker\u2019s house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially, one of Santa\u2019s helpers.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grandma parked down the street from Bobby\u2019s house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk. Then Grandma gave me a nudge. \u201cAll right, Santa Claus\u201d she whispered, so I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his door and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma. Together we waited breathlessly in the darknes for the front door to open. Finally, it did, and there stood<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bobby.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fifty years haven\u2019t dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my Grandma in Bobby Decker\u2019s bushes. That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma had said they were –ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team. I still have the Bible, with the coat tag tucked inside: $19.95. (Writer Unknown)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

May you always have LOVE to share, HEALTH to spare and FRIENDS that care… And may you always believe in the magic of Christmas!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Special thanks to Sun followers Lou and Donna Baldeman for sharing this heartwarming tale they sent to me as a Christmas card. I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll enjoy it just as much as I did.\\ I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit Grandma on the day my brother dropped the shattering bomb: \u201cThere is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[3,1,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2104"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2104"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2112,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2104\/revisions\/2112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}