A Gift Out Of Nowhere

In the fall of 2010, 10 year old Timothy Anderson of Crestwood Hills, California wrote a letter to Santa Claus.  Anderson was a music lover, a fan of rock and roll, took music lessons, and wanted to hit the jackpot for Christmas to kickstart his musical journey.  Tim asked for the following in his letter to Santa, penned at Crestwood Hills Elementary School:

Dear Santa,

My name is Timothy Anderson.  You can call me Tim.  I have been a really good boy this year, done all of my chores, and got good grades at school.  I love music.  I listen to music like Phish, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and the Black Crowes.  I want to be a musician when I grow up.  For Christmas this year, I am asking for a Fender Stratocaster, a music book, a box of skull and crossbone picks, and some extra strings.  I play an acoustic guitar now so the electric guitar would be so awesome. Thank you Santa.

Yours truly, Tim Anderson

Similarly in the fall of 2010, 10 year old Timmy Anderson of Crestwood, Illinois wrote a letter to Santa Claus.  Anderson was a baseball fan, and had posters of his favorite players on the bedroom walls of both his Mom and Dad’s homes like Tony Gwynn, Dwight Gooden, Derek Jeter, and Ken Griffey, Jr.  Timmy Anderson was a Little League All-Star at 10 and ate, slept, and drank baseball since his Tee Ball years some 4 years ago.  Timmy asked for the following in his letter to Santa, penned at Crestwood Regional Elementary School:

Dear Santa, 

My name is Timothy Anderson.  You can call me Timmy.  I have been a really good boy this year, done all of my chores, and got good grades at school.  I love baseball. I am a pitcher now and also play the infield, catch, and sometimes play the outfield.  I want to be a Major League Baseball player when I grow up, so I can help my family out.  For Christmas this year, I am asking for a Rawlings catcher’s glove, a new 5150 bat, batting gloves, and a signed baseball from Ken Griffey, Jr.  I can’t wait to get on the field this Spring with my new gear.  Thank you Santa.

Yours truly, Timmy Anderson

At the North Pole, Santa and his elves received a letter from Timothy (Tim) Anderson of Crestwood Hills, CA around November 15, 2010.   At or close to the same day, Santa and his elves also received a letter from Timothy (Timmy) Anderson of Crestwood, Illinois. As was customary in the sorting process at the North Pole, Tim Anderson’s musical requests went to the musical enrichment department.  And Timmy Anderson’s sporting goods request went to the baseball sub-division of the sports enrichment department.  Once inside each department, the child’s requests went into the motion of granting.  Letters were checked for “good grades” and “doing your chores” type verbiage.  Then, the requested presents were built or obtained or produced to make each deserving child’s wish a complete 100% success.  From each enrichment department, the child’s full name and address would be attached to the presents, which will then filter the presents into regional buckets – north, south, east, west, midwest, southwest, northeast, and so on.  The gifts were loaded sequentially from east to west so there was no confusion.

Paige the Elf had loaded up Timothy (Tim) Anderson’s gifts in a wheelbarrow with Timothy (Timmy) Anderson’s gifts along with about 75 million other children’s gifts.  The wheelbarrow was heavy but the task was important.  It was Christmas Eve and Santa’s sleigh needed to be loaded imminently.  Paige squatted down, lifted the handle of the wheelbarrow with both arms and legs working together, and began the 30 yard journey from the shipment warehouse to Santa’s sleigh.  Unbeknownst to Paige, Erica the Elf had loaded up a good sized snowball and was gearing up for an epic peg of her buddy, Paige.  Paige, struggling a bit but determined, pushed the heavy wheelbarrow through the deep snow of the North Pole landing strip until he was struck in the back by Erica.  The snowball knocked Paige right to the ground.  The wheelbarrow toppled over, the presents fell onto the dense snow, and Erica yelled out a “Gotcha Paige” from behind a tree.  Paige, looking stressed and bewildered, scooped up a bunch of snow with both of his hands, cupped the snow into a softball looking snowball, then fired it back at Erica hoping to connect with her in the same way she connected with him.  The snowball unfortunately sailed wide and to the right, then crashed through the window of the barn housing the reindeer. The reindeer caretaker jumped out of the front door to protest.  “What in the snowy world is going on here Paige, that shipment better get on Santa’s sleigh or else!!!”

Erica felt terrible and ran over to her elf-mate to assist in recovering the packages back onto the wheelbarrow.  Despite their haste, every gift was returned to its proper address spot on the wheelbarrow for proper loading.  Except for two, belonging to two Timothy Andersons from two different Crestwood parts of the country.  You see, during the fall, the address labels were damaged apart from the child’s name and city.  Timothy Anderson of Crestwood and Timothy Anderson of Crestwood.  Erica and Paige, knowing they were against the clock, took a gambled risk and placed Timothy Anderson’s gifts in the slot for the wrong Timothy Anderson and vice versa.  Because of the snowball incident, not one but two children were not going to get their wishes this Christmas.

Santa, unaware of the elf screw-up, delivered the gifts to everyone on his list, including Timothy Anderson of Crestwood Hills, California and Timothy Anderson of Crestwood, Illinois.  After arriving back at the North Pole and securing his reindeer in the North Pole barn, Santa was greeted by two elves looking very guilty of something.  Paige and Erica confessed to Santa what had happened, that there was a snowball incident, and that they returned all the gifts to where they thought they should go.  Except they were not completely sure the two Timothy Anderson kids got the right gifts.  Santa laughed a full belly laugh and shrugged it off saying, “these things have a way of working themselves out.”  Paige and Erica looked at each other somewhat bewildered and then started walking back to their elf hotel feeling pretty lousy, when unsuspectedly they were barraged with snowballs from Santa and the reindeer caretaker.  “That’s for breaking my window,” said the reindeer caretaker.  “And that’s for goofing around on Christmas Eve,” yelled Santa.  Paige and Erica did not retaliate and quickly hustled back to their rooms for the rest of Christmas Eve.

Well, the next morning Tim Anderson of Crestwood Hills, California ran down the stairs from this bedroom and spotted several presents with his name on them under his family’s Christmas tree.  After getting the nod from his parents, Tim began to tear back the wrapping paper on a Rawling’s catcher’s glove, a baseball bat, a signed Ken Griffey, Jr. baseball, and a pair of batting gloves.  He looked at his parents who smiled like they felt like they had to.  “Cool stuff, baseball, hmm,” sighed Tim.  Tim’s Dad, Andy, asked “do you want to give baseball a shot, son?”  To which Tim Anderson of Crestwood Hills stated, “sure why not.  But does this mean I have to stop playing guitar?”  Both parents laughed and replied, “no, you can play music and have an activity like baseball be a part of your life – balance, dude.”  Tim nodded and the Andersons of California moved over to the breakfast table to have some eggs, French toast, and a discussion on the finer points of baseball.  

Starting in the Spring of 2011, Tim Anderson played for Crestwood Hills Little League.  Everyone on the team knew Tim’s first love was music and the guitar, but they welcomed him on the field with open arms.  Anderson was not a great player but he was a great teammate.  His new catcher’s glove and bat were available for the entire team to use every practice, every game.  Tim loved being around some of the great baseball players in Crestwood Hills, including his new best friend, the catcher, who went on to become a California State High School All-Star.  The catcher’s father was also Crestwood Hill’s Little League Coach and the current guitar player for Blues Mariner, who gifted Tim one of his signed electric guitars after hearing his Christmas gift story from his parents at an end of the year banquet when the kids graduated out of Little League.

Similarly, Timmy Anderson of Crestwood, Illinois came out of his first floor bedroom and ran down the hall to his Mom’s Christmas tree and spotted several presents with his name on them.  Timmy would be visiting his Father later that afternoon, so presents from Santa were to be delivered to Mom’s address this Christmas so he could open them right away Christmas morning.  After waiting for an hour or two, and banging on his mother’s door to see if she was awake, and asking if he could open presents, Timmy’s mother finally emerged and gave him the go ahead.  After seeing Timmy approach the tree, Timmy’s mother retreated back to her room to sleep off her alcoholic episode from Christmas Eve.  Timmy began to pull back the wrapping on a Fender Stratocaster guitar, a set of strings, a music book, and a box of skull and crossbones picks.  Disappointed, yet again in his life, Timmy looked on the bright side.  He grabbed his new guitar and gifts and retreated back into his room.  He placed the guitar in the corner of his room and started to leaf through the guitar book.  After a knock on his door from his mother asking “what did you get, sport?”  Timmy replied, “exactly what I needed, Mom.”  “Good,” his mother yelled, “you gotta play pro ball so I can get outta this dump, you read me?”  

For the next 8 years, Timmy Anderson used music to relieve the stress and strain of living in a divorced family situation.  Timmy would write emotional songs and connect with others experiencing similar trauma and find peace in these musical connections.  It worked so well that Timmy Anderson the baseball player became a calm, cool, and collected assassin on the pitcher’s mound, so much that area scouts were knocking on his Mom and Dad’s doors with scholarship offers left and right.  Many of the scouts would comment how relaxed he was and asked Timmy what his secret to success was.  “A gift out of nowhere,” was all he would say.

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you get everything on your wish list this year. And maybe a gift out of nowhere will spark your creativity for something new in your life. Best wishes to all and to all a Good Night!