The Sugarplum Fairy Comes to Lindale Drive

One Christmas Eve afternoon as I was going through the box of possible presents for our two small children I realized that there was far too much for them to open the next morning. Throughout the year when I saw something on sale that I knew that they would soon need, or a toy or game that I thought they might soon be ready for I would buy it and put in away in a big box. I would then get out the things that were appropriate for birthdays or Christmas. 

I had made them matching pajamas for Christmas so I put the pajamas in a box with a note “For Visions of Sugarplums” and left it on the coffee table. When it was discovered we read the note. I said “Oh, the Sugarplum Fairy must have left it.” For a spur of the moment idea it was brilliant! There was no problem getting them ready for bed, and they were ready for Christmas morning pictures.

This became a Christmas Eve tradition. Sometimes the doorbell would ring and the box would be the only thing there. Sometimes the box would be at the door when we came home from the Christmas Eve service. Eventually the children realized that I was always the last one there to get to the door (out of breath and with wet feet.)

There came a time when pajamas no longer worked well. After a few years of fumbling around looking for an alternative I realized that one of the things we all liked to do was eat. After that the Sugarplum Fairy left a baguette, several pounds of cheese, and a bottle of wine for fondue.

When our children married and started their own families they continued the tradition. Last year I was telling my granddaughter, now 22, how the tradition got started. She said “I always wondered why none of my friends knew about the Sugarplum Fairy”.