No Destiny, There Is No Santa Claus: The True Story of Christmas

By Larry Douglas Mattox

This delightful Christmas story is in the ilk of Its a Wonderful Life. Taking place over the weekend following Thanksgiving, it involves a young family in Ohio. Enjoy the twist and turns as they endure a blizzard, secrets, church duties, a special dinner, a terminal illness, irate parents, cultural acceptance and religious inclusion. But the main theme is a special relationship between a father and his daughter.
For Destiny, everything in life is new. And she cant sit still for not understanding all that come into her young life. She has a mine like a sponge, which amazes her father.
This is about the true meaning and purpose of Christmas and why it is celebrate by a third of the worlds population; including other cultures which celebrate some form of Christmas, and still other societies that have celebrations at this same time. The story reveals half the world observes a religious event honoring God in some form at this time of the year.
Rather than teaching children about Santa bringing gifts to every child, they should be telling them the truth; which is, we give gifts to our children in celebration of what God has giving to us, -- The Greatest Gift ever given.
Through our hard work we are able to purchase the gifts we give at Christmas. Why tell such a big lie to children and give the credit to this imaginary figure. Weve earned that credit.
This story ends with a lesson for the entire world. Christmas is one of the greatest tools we have to bring the world together, if we include all peoples, everywhere.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 3, 2017
• ISBN: 9781543417272

Larry Douglas Mattox

Born May 27, 1951 in Columbus, Ohio to Taylor and Audrey Mattox, I started life living on the east side of the city. I attended public schools and graduated in 1969 from Central High. Later that summer I proposed to my sweetheart, Eva Moore and we were married on December 5, of that same year.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Friday

This is the story of little Destiny, who is seven years old and is in the second grade of her public school. She comes from a small young family that consists of her father Larry, and her mother, Michelle. She also has a much smaller four-year-old brother named DeShawn.

Destiny actually is a very smart child for her age, mainly because she asks a lot of questions about everything new to her in her young life. To her, her mother seems to be constantly busy around the house, including tending to her baby brother, in addition to her job as a claims adjuster for the National Insurance Company.

On the other hand, her father, who’s an assistant financial officer at the Mid America Bank and Trust Company, has always shown great care and patience in dealing with her.

Just between us, she seems to put a lot of trust into whatever her father tells her because she favors him and takes after him in everything she says and does. Maybe it’s that old thing about little girls being madly in love with their father because, in her mind, he’s a great hero, champion, and rock star all rolled into one—an image that continues to grow more and more in her heart every day. In this case, there’s good reason for it because there’s a strong, loving bond between all the members of this family.

From the time she was an infant, she learned, as all babies did, to trust and rely on her parents for even the simplest things in life. Larry and Michelle had been feeding her in a timely manner and making sure her food was never too hot or too cold.

They would change her diapers when she was wet and made sure her bottom was kept dry. They would keep her special rattler near whenever she was laid in her bed and kept her crib always clean and safe. It seemed that it was their joy to make sure she always had all the personal comforts in her young life.

And as she grew, she noticed that everything she needed was always there without her ever wanting for them. They gave her clothes, shoes, toys, even her favorite candy on an occasional basis. This made her feel like she was somebody special—a star even.

This treatment tended to spoil her. So about a year ago, they began to back up on the special treatments.

But they couldn’t fully stop making her feel special in a lot of ways. Destiny noticed that she could depend on them for everything in life, even in making her smile or laugh whenever she needed a pick-me-up; even sometimes when she didn’t need it.

What she really loved was the way her father always made her laugh. He would go on and on for hours playing with her, making faces at her, tickling her or tossing her in the air, rolling over on the floor with her, and lifting her up and swinging her through the air.

He could think of so many ways to keep her laughing. She always loved life the most whenever he was around.

So it was just natural that whenever she saw or heard about something new, she always would go to him, asking, What is this, Daddy? What is that, Daddy? How big is this, Daddy? Why is this so small? What does this do? What does that do? Who is this? How does this work? What color is this? What’s this called? What’s her name? Do you know this? How far is that? Where are you going? When will we get there? Are we there yet? Do you like this? Can I go with you? How long will that take? Will you play with me? On and on and on, over and over and over.

She would ask about everything that came up, practically everything she saw. The world was all new to her. And it was good that she had a loving father who happened to show a lot of patience in dealing with her. In everything he told her, she took it as if it was the gospel truth.

Most times, she wouldn’t even bother her busy mother with her questions but would save them just for her father because of his patience with her, but more so because she loved the careful, loving, attentive way he responded to her questions. She was really in love with the tender manner he took in explaining everything to her. Because of this, she had developed a special trust in him, to the point where she would save the things that were more important to her, just for him.

This was good because, as she grew older, the questions gradually got deeper and more important, as they pertained to life. She wanted to know about how she was made and where Daddy and Mommy came from. Who made the world? Where did grass come from? Why did it rain, and why did it snow? Why do people have to die, and what would happen to them when they die?

Of course, the answer to most of these types of questions led to God. And her parents, being Christians since they were children, loved telling her about God. She had asked her parents enough questions concerning God that in her Sunday school class, her hand was always one of the first raised to volunteer the answers to the questions the teachers would ask.

And after she had asked enough questions to learn about almost everything in the surrounding world she was born into, now she had grown old enough to go off to a whole new world called school. As you would know, this new world required a whole new set of questions.

The good thing about this was that school was the right place for the new questions. The best thing about this was that it gave her father a much-needed break since most of the new things that presented itself in her new world of school could now be answered by the teacher.

It took her a while to get used to the change of going to school in her normal routine. By this time, she really didn’t care much about going without Mommy and Daddy for a good part of the day. She had gotten used to being without them when she and her little brother, DeShawn, would get dropped off at Nana and Grandpa’s house each morning while they went to work.

Now that had changed to Mommy watching her walk to the street corner to catch the school bus and then being taken to this huge building where lots of other children, whom she didn’t know, were gathered.

But when she discovered that they would be playing games, drawing pictures, painting (which she really liked to do), and other stuff like that, going there every day quickly became her most fun thing to do. After going there for only a little while, she really began to love her time at school. And now she was in the second grade, and she really looked forward to going each day.

Every day, when Destiny got home, her parents would ask her what went on in school. She liked that because she would start from the very beginning and relive all the fun of the whole day. This also meant that if there were any questions she forgot or didn’t get the chance to ask during class, she had the opportunity to engage her very patient father.

This was what occurred on the first day she returned to school after the Thanksgiving holiday, a Friday. You see, when the children finished telling about the events that occurred during the Thanksgiving holiday, the teacher asked them about making plans for the next holiday coming up—Christmas.

All the children were so happy and smiling as they talked about all the things that went with Christmas—the snow, the decoration, all the food, and yes, oh yes, the presents. The class spent a lot of time discussing the decorations they would make around the classroom and some that they would take home. They also spent some time going over what kind of presents they could give to each other in class and some for their own family members.

But near the end of the day, while they were still going over the Christmas holiday items, there was one thing that really puzzled Destiny. It was the discussion concerning Santa Claus.

See, she had seen pictures of Santa Claus before; she had even seen him on TV. But this was something that they had never talked about at home before. And for some reason, she couldn’t remember ever asking her father anything concerning him. So while the other kids knew everything about Santa Claus, she knew very little about him.

For sure, most of her classmates didn’t have the same problem. Their faces beamed with smiles and laughter from just the thought of him. And when they started talking about him—well, they just couldn’t stop.

They seemed to know an awful lot about him, and they all were so pleased with him that it made her feel like an outsider. She wanted to join in the conversation, but she didn’t know anything about Santa Claus. She couldn’t wait to get home to ask her father about this one.

After school, she would be picked up by another bus and taken to the after-school day care until the time her mother usually came home. As soon as Destiny reached the house, she ran in searching every room, looking for her father, but she could only find her mother.

Then she asked her why he wasn’t home yet. Her mother explained that he was running late. He had called earlier to say that he probably wouldn’t arrive home until about dinnertime.

He told her not to wait but to go ahead and start dinner without him; he should be there a little later. Her mother could tell there was something troubling her, so she asked, Baby, what’s the problem?

She began to tell her, but the special trust she had developed with her father stepped in and stopped her from going into any detail. See, she always took the special issues, the things that bothered her the most, to her father.

This was mostly due to the patient manner he used in explaining things to her, and besides, her mother was already busy preparing their dinner. So she stopped and said to her mother, Oh, just something I wanted to ask him.

Her mother told her, Well, please don’t jump all over him with it as soon as he gets here. Give him some time to get in the door and rest a minute so he can get things off his mind first.

Yes, okay, Mama. I’ll wait till after dinner, she said as she slowly walked into her bedroom to look for her toy turtle. She always loved to play with it, especially when something was troubling her.

Michelle continued with preparing the dinner. Their ninth wedding anniversary was soon approaching, and all day long, her mind would repeatedly drift back to the good times they had spent together throughout the years.

They had met each other when they were very young, in junior high school. They actually would see each other before, while they were still in elementary school, and both of their parents attended the same church—the New Life Missionary Church, which was now being pastored by Bishop Sherman Wallace.

It was a nondenominational gospel church, which was first begun in 1951 with just twelve members. Lately it had been gathering huge crowds of about five to six hundred believers for Sunday worship services each week. But back in those early days, they only had about fifty members at the most.

At that time, when Michelle and Larry first attended the church, they didn’t know each other, nor did they associate in the same group. But later, about the time they both were entering high school, they found themselves singing in the same choir there.

With choir rehearsals twice a week and the main event every Sunday morning, they began to see a lot of each other. From this, they became good friends, talking with each other on a daily basis, which drew them even closer, but only as friends.

Actually, it wasn’t until after they had graduated from high school that they began dating. And by this point, two years into their relationship, she was very much in love with Larry—even more so than him with her, at least in her mind.

Her mind drifted to a particular day in April when she was looking forward to her upcoming birthday. She wasn’t a bit shy about hinting what she wanted for a present.

She had picked out a dress, shoes, and a purse at the Marshall’s store and had even taken Larry there to show him the ensemble she wanted. But Larry had his own idea of a good birthday present for her. He had been planning a special way to celebrate the day and had even clued her parents in on it.

So that day finally came, which fell on a Sunday. Prior to this, Larry had worked it out with Elder Jerome Edwards, who was the program director for the Sunday morning services. He would be given five minutes right after Sister Regina Williams finished making the church announcements, just prior to the choir’s next selection.

When Sister Williams finished the announcements, she stated, And now I will turn the next part of our service over to Brother Larry Collins, who has a brief announcement he’d like to make. And then you will hear the next selection from the choir. Thank you.

Then Larry walked up to the podium and began. "First and above all, I’d like to give honor to my heavenly Father and my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I’d also like to give honor to Bishop Wallace.

Now I’d like to announce that a very, very special person among us—and especially to me—is celebrating a very special day today. And I would like to try to make it an even more special day for that person. So I’d like to ask Ms. Michelle Underwood to join me here at the podium.

Michelle, who was seated in the fourth row of the choir stand, was quite surprised at this and tried to hide a large smile that was spreading over her face. As she rose to walk out of the aisle of the choir stand, whispers from several areas of the congregation began to rise in anticipation of what was about to happen.

Not knowing what Larry was about to do, she walked curiously to the podium. When she arrived there, Larry took her by the hand, looked out over the congregation, and said, Doesn’t she look beautiful this morning? In unison, both laughter and applause arose from the congregation.

Next, with a smile, Larry said, I’d like to tell all of you that today is Michelle’s twenty-first birthday. Again, the crowd responded with loud applause. Then Larry continued. "And I have a very special birthday present for Michelle.

As most of you already know, Michelle and I have been going together for over two years now. And I would like to tell you that it’s really been fun and just wonderful for me. Then he paused. Well, I’d like to tell you that, but it wouldn’t be true.

Right there, the volume of laughter rose to a level higher than what the whole choir had reached all morning. Michelle, feeling a little embarrassed, tried to cover her face, which had changed from amusement to a much sterner, scorching glare in Larry’s direction.

Then Larry changed his demeanor and got more serious with the moment. He continued, saying, "No, no, I was just kidding you guys about that. She’s been absolutely wonderful to be with, and I have completely enjoyed every bit of it.

I have become just totally in love with her. She has become not just a person I could turn to but also someone whom I could look up to. And I want to take a second to prove that to you.

Then he knelt down on one knee and said, "Michelle, since we’ve started going together, my love for you has outgrown my heart and has completely filled my whole being, so much so that I think of you in terms of forever. And I think that having a future with you is the only way I can enhance my life. I can’t plan anything in my future, in my life, without you being a part of it.

"I love you, Michelle, and before I go any further, I want to say it again. I love you. And I want to declare my love for you right here, in front of all these good people.

I love you, and I want you to be my wife for the rest of my life. I don’t want to go any further in my life without knowing that you will be in it with me. Will you marry me?

With that, he pulled his right hand from the waist pocket of his suit coat; and with that same hand, he opened a small black box to show her a set of diamond rings. The middle ring was sporting a crest with a one-carat round solitaire diamond.

Michelle’s eyes were glued to the center mount of the ring with the biggest diamond she had ever seen, and just for a moment, she forgot to answer the question. So Larry, prodding her to answer, pulled the box back a little while saying to her, Well?

Then Michelle looked into his eyes, and with a great, big smile, she said, Yes, oh yes, I will marry you. Larry then rose and took her in his arms as their lips met with a kiss—a long kiss.

And the whole congregation went wild with laughter, cheers, applause, and some comments that were shouted above all the noise. This lasted for a few good minutes until they walked back into the choir stand, still holding each other’s hands.

There were congratulations from the members of the choir as they both took their seats. Gary Louis, the music director for the church, allowed the moment to continue for a while until the congregation settled down before he began the intro to the next selection.

As Michelle’s mind drifted back to the present, she noticed the broad smile on her face from the memory, but it changed as a more serious thought came over her. She recalled the news she received on Tuesday from her doctor. She still hadn’t told Larry about it yet.

She had become concerned about some of the things he had recently said, which actually didn’t have anything to do with the issue but somewhat alarmed her. They made her think he might react negatively to the news, which made her worry and hesitate to tell him.

She thought that maybe if she waited until they celebrated their ninth anniversary on the fourth of January, he might take the news in a more positive light. She certainly didn’t want to risk causing an issue that would negatively affect their marriage. To tell him then would increase the chance he would be more accepting of the news.

Just then, her mind snapped back to the things she was doing. Dinner was ready, and just as she finished placing the food on the table, Larry walked in the door. She stopped what she was doing and ran over to give him a welcoming hug and kiss.

Just as she finished, Destiny ran into the room and jumped into his arms. Hello, Daddy, how was your day? she asked as she hugged him.

Hello, baby. Long and boring, he replied.

Then Michelle said, Here, give me your coat and come to the table. Your dinner is ready.

Good, he replied while giving her a kiss.

As he took his seat, he began saying the blessing over the food. Then he reached for the bowl of potatoes and asked, Well, little girl, how was your day today? Anything special going on at school?

This was her opportunity, and she couldn’t hold back any longer, so she began by saying, Yes, Daddy. Now that Thanksgiving is over, our class is beginning to plan the Christmas and New Year’s decorations for our classroom.

Oh, that ought to be fun, he replied. What are you going to make?

Well, I haven’t really thought of anything yet, she answered. And she added, But maybe you can help me think of something.

Then he offered, Well, sure, I will, darling. As soon as we finish dinner, we’ll put our two heads together and come up with something good. Is that okay?

That’ll be great, Daddy, she said.

After they had finished eating, Larry went into the living room to sit in his favorite chair. As soon as he sat in the seat, Destiny came in and jumped right into his lap. She said, Daddy, I heard something in school today that bothered me.

Looking a little surprised, he said, Oh, baby, what was that?

Well, Daddy, she said, slowly while looking down and pausing before she started again, "all the other kids in the class were having fun talking about Santa Claus, and I didn’t know