A Carolina Christmas Carol
Composer(s): Charlie Daniels
Performer(s): Charlie Daniels



A Christmas Monologue
I might as well go ahead and tell you right up front: I believe in Santa Claus
Now, you can believe or not believe, but I'm here to tell you for a fact that there is a Santa Claus
and he does bring toys and stuff like that on Christmas Eve night
I know, I know
It sounds like I've had too much eggnog, don't it?
All I ask is that you wait till I get through telling my story before you make up your mind
When I was a kid, Christmas time had a magic to it that no other season of the year had
There was just something in the air, something that you couldn't put your finger on
but it was there, and it affected everybody
It seemed like everybody smiled and laughed more at that time of year
even the people who didn't hardly smile and laugh the rest of the year
"You reckon it's gonna snow?
I sure do wish it'd snow this year
Do you reckon it's gonna?"
Heck no, it won't gonna snow
As far as I know, it ain't never snowed in Wilmington, North Carolina
at Christmas time in the whole history of man
It seemed like everybody in the world had snow at Christmas except us
In the funny papers, Nancy and Sluggo and Little Orphaned Annie
had snow to frolic around in at Christmas time
The Christmas cards had snow
Bing Crosby even had snow to sing about
But not one flake fell on Wilmington, North Carolina
But that didn't dampen our spirits one little bit
Our family celebrated Christmas to the hilt
We were a big, close-knit family, and we'd gather up at Grandma's house every year
My grandparents lived on a farm in Bladen County, about fifty miles from Wilmington
and I just couldn't wait to get up there
They lived in a great big old farmhouse
and every Christmas they'd fill it up with their children and grandchildren
We'd always stay from the night of the twenty-third through the morning of the twenty-sixth
There'd be Uncle Clyde and Aunt Martha, Uncle Lacy and Aunt Selma; Uncle Leroy and Aunt Mollie
Uncle Stewart and Aunt Opal, and my mama and daddy, Ernest and Nadine
I won't even go into how many children were there, but take my word for it, there were a bunch
There'd be people sleeping all over that big old house
We kids would sleep on pallets on the floor
and we'd giggle and play till some of the grown-ups would come and make us be quiet
All the usual ground rules about eating were off for those days at Grandma's house
You could eat as much pie and cake and candy as you could hold, and your mama wouldn't say a word to you
My grandma would cook from sunup to sundown and love every minute of it
She'd have cakes, pies candy, fruit and nuts setting out all the time
and on top of that, she'd cook three big meals a day
I mean, we eat like pigs
Christmas was also the only time that my Granddaddy would take a drink
It was a Southern custom of the time not to drink in front of small children
so Granddaddy kept his drinking whiskey hid in the barn
When he'd want to go out there and get him a snort
he'd say that he had to go see if the mare had had her foal yet
It was a good, good time
A little old-fashioned by some peoples standards, but it suited us just fine
If I'm not mistaken, it was the year I was five years old
that my cousin Buford told me that there wasn't any Santa Claus
Buford was about nine at the time
He always was a mean-natured cuss
Still is
Well, I just refused to believe him
I said, "You're telling a great big fib, Buford Ray, 'cause Santa Claus comes to see me every Christmas
right here at Grandma and Granddaddy's house"
"That ain't Santa Claus. That's your mama and daddy." One thing led
to another and I got so upset about the prospect of no Santa Claus
that I went running into the house crying.
"Grandma, Grandma! Buford says there ain't no Santa Claus!
There is a Santa Claus, ain't they, Grandma?"
"Of course there is, Curtis
Buford was just joking with you"
Aunt Selma heard me talking to Grandma and walked to the door
"Buford Ray, get yourself in this house right this minute!"
When he came in, Aunt Selma grabbed him by the ear, led him into the
front room and swatted him.
Granddaddy was also a big defender of Santa Claus
He would talk about Santa Claus like he was a personal friend of his
And the more he went to check on the mare, the more he talked about Santa Claus
or "Sandy Claws" as he called him
"Yes, children, old Sandy Claws will be hitching up them reindeers
and heading on down this a-way before long
Wonder what he's gonna bring this year?"
He'd have us so excited by the time we went to bed
that I reckon if visions of sugarplums ever danced in anybody's heads, it was ours
Christmas Eve night, after we had eat about as much supper as we could hold, we'd go in the front room
There'd always be a big log fire crackling in the fireplace, and Granddaddy would always say the same thing
"Children, do y'all know why we have Christmas every year?"
"Cause that's when the Baby Jesus was born"
"That's right
We're celebrating the Lord's birthday
Do y'all know where He was born at?"
"In Bethlehem" we would all chime in
"That's right
He was born in a stable in Bethlehem almost two thousand years ago"
Then Granddaddy would put on his spectacles and read Saint Luke's version of the Christmas story
Then, after we'd had family prayer, Granddaddy would always get a twinkle in his eye
"I reckon I'd better step out to the barn and see if that old mare has had her baby yet"
There was always a chorus of "Can I go with you, Granddaddy?"
"Y'all had better stay in here by the fire
It's mighty cold outside
I'll be right back"
When Granddaddy came back in the house, he'd always say, "I was on my way back from the barn while ago
and I heard something that sounded like bells a-tinkling, way back off yonder in the woods
I just can't figure why bells would be ringing back in the woods this time of night"
"It's Santa Claus! It's Santa Claus!"
"Well, now, I never thought of that
I wonder if it was old Sandy Claws
You children better get to bed
You know he won't come to see you as long as you're awake"
Then it was time to say good night
All the grandchildren would go around hugging all the grown-ups
"Good night Grandma, good night Granddaddy, good night Uncle Clyde, good night Aunt Mollie" and so forth
We would always try to stay awake, lying on our pallets until Santa Claus got there
but we always lost the battle
It sounded like the Third World War at Grandma's house on Christmas morning
There was cap pistols going off and baby dolls crying
and all the children hollering at the top of their lungs
By the time the next school year started, I was six years old and in the first grade
I kept thinking about what Buford had said
I didn't want to believe it, but it kept slipping into the back door of my mind
At school, Buford was three grades ahead of me, but I'd still see him sometimes
Every time he'd see me that whole year, he'd make it a point to rub it in about Santa Claus
He'd do something like get me around a bunch of his older buddies and say
"Hey , you fellers, Curtis still believes in Santa Claus"
And they'd all laugh and point
Away from any adult persuasion, I guess Buford finally wore me out
I returned to Grandma's house the next year not believing that there was a Santa Claus
Christmas lost a little of its mystique
Oh, I still enjoyed it
I even pretended that I believed in "Sandy Claws" for Granddaddy's benefit, but it wasn't the same
Well, as you know, time marches on, children grow up and leave home, including me
I was living in Denver, Colorado, married, with a child
and I hadn't been home for Christmas since our little daughter had been born
Dawn was three that year, and this would be the first time that she really knew about Santa Claus
and she was some kind of excited
We had the best time shopping for her, buying all the little toys that she wanted
Daddy called me about three weeks before Christmas and said
"Son, you know that your grandparents are getting old
They've requested that all the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren come home the way we used to
Can you make it, son?"
"We'll be there, Daddy"
I couldn't think of a better place in the whole world for little Dawn to spend her first real Christmas
so we packed up and headed for North Carolina
Grandma was eighty-two years old, but she still cooked all day long
and she still enjoyed every minute of it
Granddaddy was eighty-four, but he still had a twinkle in his eye and a mare in the barn
The old house was fuller than ever, with a whole new generation of children in it
Even Buford
He had married, but he didn't have any children
He didn't want any
One of my cousins said he figured Buford was too stingy to have children
Buford was still the same, except that he had changed from a boy with a mean nature
to a full-grown man with a cynical nature and a know-it-all attitude
Just before we went into the front room for family prayer and the reading of the Christmas story
I overheard him say to somebody "I don't know why Granddaddy keeps filling the children's heads full of that Santa Claus nonsense
I think it's ridiculous
If I had children, I wouldn't let him tell them all that junk"
I looked hard at Buford
I had never liked him, and I liked him even less now
Our little daughter was so excited when Granddaddy started talking about "Sandy Claws"
that she jumped up and down and clapped her hands
When I took her up to bed, there was pure excitement in those big brown eyes
"Santa Claus is coming, Daddy! Santa Claus is coming, Daddy!"
I got a warm feeling all over, and I sure was glad to be back at Grandma's house at Christmas time
After all the children had gone to sleep, the grown-ups started going out to their cars
to get the toys they had brought for Santa Claus to leave under the Christmas tree
I decided to wait until everybody else had finished before I put Dawn's presents out
This was a special time for me and I wanted to enjoy it
After everybody had gone up to bed, I went to the car to get Dawn's toys
To my shock, I couldn't find them
I ran back into the house to my wife
"Sylvia, where did you pack Dawn's Christmas presents?"
"I thought you packed them"
I was close to panic, but I didn't want Sylvia to know it
I said, "Oh well, you just go on to bed, honey, and I'll look again
I probably just overlooked them"
I kissed my wife goodnight and went back downstairs
I knew I hadn't overlooked them
We had somehow forgot to pack them, and they were two thousand miles away in Denver, Colorado
I was a miserable man
I just didn't feel like I could face little Dawn the next morning
She'd be so disappointed
All the other children would have the toys that Santa had brought them
and my beloved little daughter wouldn't have anything
How could I have been so dumb?
Here it was, twelve o'clock Christmas Eve night, all the stores closed, everybody in bed
and me without a single present for little Dawn
I was heartbroken
I went into the front room and sat by the dying fire, dejected and hopeless
I don't know how long I sat there staring at the embers
but sometime later on I heard a rustle behind me and somebody said, "You got a match, son?"
I turned around and almost fell on the floor
Standing not ten feet from me was a short, fat little man in a red suit
with a long white beard and a pipe sticking out of his mouth
I couldn't move, I couldn't speak
He looked at me and chuckled
"Have you got a match, son?
I ran out and I want to get this pipe going"
When I finally got my voice back, all I could say was "Who are you?"
"Well, people call me by different names in different parts of the world, but around here they call me Santa Claus"
"No, I mean who are you really?"
I just told you, son
How about that match?"
I stumbled to the mantelpiece, got a kitchen match and gave it to him
"Much obliged"
He stood there lighting his pipe, with me looking at him like he was a ghost or something
"How did you get in here?"
"Oh, I've got my ways"
"I thought you were supposed to slide down the chimney"
"That's a common misconception
Would you slide down a chimney with a fire at the bottom?"
"Well, no
I mean, no, sir"
"Well, neither would I"
"How did you get here?"
"I've got a sturdy sleigh and the finest team of reindeer a man could have"
"But we ain't got snow"
Santa Claus laughed so hard that his considerable belly shook
"I don't need snow
Half the places I go in the world don't have snow
Besides, I like to get out of the snow once in a while
We have it year-round at the North Pole, you know"
"You mean you really live at the North Pole?"
"Of course, I've always lived at the North Pole
Don't you know anything about Santa Claus, son?"
"Well, yeah, but I thought it was all a big put-on for the children"
"That's the trouble with you grown-ups
You think that everything you can't see is a put-on
It's a shame grown people can't be more like children
They don't have any trouble believing in me"
"You mean you've really got a sleigh, with reindeer named Donner and Blitzen and stuff like that?"
"That's right, son
There's Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen and Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen
Of course, there's no Rudolph with the red nose
I don't know who came up with that one
Rudolph really is a put-on"
"But what are you doing here? Why did you come?"
"Because there's a little girl in this house who believes in me very much
Now, she'd be mighty disappointed to wake up Christmas morning and have nothing under the tree"
"You mean you a came all the way here just because one little girl believes in you?"
"That's right, son
There's magic in believing
Besides, she's not the only one in this house who believes in me"
"Who else?"
"Why, your grandfather, of course"
"You mean Granddaddy wasn't putting us on all those years?
He really believed in you?"
"Of course he believed in me"
"Well, why do you do this?"
"It's my way of celebrating the most important birthday in the history of man
Our Lord has given us so much
How can we do less?"
Santa Claus consulted a piece of paper he pulled out of his pocket
and started taking a doll and other toys out of a big bag he had brought with him
"Well, I've got to go, son
I've got a lot of stops to make before sunup
It's been really nice talking to you
Thanks for the match"
"Can I help you with your bag, Santa Claus?"
"No, that's all right, son
I'm used to carrying it"
I walked outside with him
"Where's your sleigh, Santa Claus?"
"It's parked right over there in the edge of the woods
You can come over and see it if you like"
I started walking over to his sleigh with him, but then I had a thought
"I'm gonna have to miss seeing your sleigh and reindeer
Thank you so very much
You saved my life
God bless you, Santa Claus
I'll see you next year"
"God bless you, too, son and a Merry Christmas to you and yours"
Santa Claus started across the yard toward his sleigh, and I went running back in the house like a wild man
I raced up the stairs
"Buford, Buford, get up!"
"What's the matter, is the house on fire?"
"No, but hurry
Come out on the upstairs porch"
Buford grumbled as he got up and followed me out on the upstairs porch
"What the heck do you want?
It's cold out here"
"Just hush up and listen"
Well, we listened by a full minute and nothing happened
"You're crazy
I'm going back to bed"
"Buford, if you go back in the house, you're gonna miss something that I want you, above all people, to see"
We waited for a little while longer and I had almost given up when I heard it
It was just a little tinkle at first, hanging on the frosty air and getting louder by the second
It was sleigh bells!
Buford looked at me and said "Curtis, is this some kind of joke or something?"
"No, Buford, I swear it ain't
Just wait a minute now!"
The sound of sleigh bells was getting louder and Buford's face was getting whiter
"You got somebody out there doing that, ain't you?
Admit it!
You got somebody out there, ain't you?"
I didn't say a word
All of a sudden it sounded like somebody had flushed a covey of quail
That sleigh came up out of the woods and headed west, hovering just above the treetops
Buford was speechless
I thought he was gonna pass out
He held on to the banister and took deep breaths
Even if you believe so far, I know you ain't gonna believe this next part, but it really happened
Santa Claus made a big circle and turned and flew right around the house
I bet he won't over twenty feet from the upstairs porch when he passed by me and Buford
Old Santa Claus could really handle them reindeer
Then he headed west again, moving at a pretty good clip this time
I hate to even tell you this next part, 'cause you'll think I took it right out of the book, but I didn't
Anyway, just about the time he was getting out of our hearing, he hollered, "Merry Christmas, everybody!"
And then he was gone
"Curtis, do you know where Granddaddy keeps that bottle hid in the barn?
I need me a drink"
I don't believe that Buford ever told anybody about seeing Santa Claus
I know I didn't, not until now
But I just had to tell somebody about it
It's been hard keeping it to myself all these years
I'm a granddaddy myself now
That little girl that caused all this to happen with her faith in Santa Claus
is grown and married and has a three-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy
Me and Sylvia moved back to North Carolina many years ago and bought a big old farmhouse
Now my grandchildren come and spend Christmas with me and their grandmother
There's not as many of us as there was at Grandma's house
but we have just as big a time and celebrate Christmas just as hard
In fact, Christmas is about the only time a year I'll take a drink
I always get me a pint of Old Granddad at Christmas time
Since the grandchildren are so small, I don't like to drink in front of them,
so I keep my drinking whiskey hid out in the barn
When I want to go out there and get me a snort
I always tell the grandchildren that I've got to see if the cows got corn
Of course, all the grown-ups know why I'm going out to the barn, or at least they think they do
I always make my last trip to the barn after I've read the Christmas story and had family prayer
Everybody thinks I'm going out to get me a snort, but they're wrong
I'm just going out to hear the sleigh bells ring