Steem4nigeria Accelerator Contest Week 69: How long did it take you to unravel who father Christmas is?

Father Christmas is the traditional name for Santa Claus. Growing up, I've seen him in movies, billboards and newspapers. I've heard a lot about him, how he goes from town to town giving gifts to children and making their wishes come true. Oh, how I longed to have encounter with him while I was still tender. In movies, I saw that father Christmas is a big fat looking old man, with long white beards and a big bag full of gifts. He usually appears in red dresses with a touch of white. Even his Christmas cap is red and white. I have been enthusiastic to have a physical glimpse of him that as a child then, I decided to embark on fasting and prayer and doing novenas just so God can answer my prayer and send father Christmas to my town to bring gifts for me and my friends and also grant us our numerous wishes.

I used to believe that father Christmas really existed but not anymore. I'll tell us why. After several years of saying my novena prayers and fasting, God saw that I wasn't ready to give up and answered my prayers and sent father Christmas not just to my town but specifically to my school. That period I was still in my third year in the elementary school. My Joy knew no bounds. I was the most happiest person on the planet.

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I was able to not only have the opportunity of seeing father Christmas in reality, but also had a handshake with him, got some gifts from him and also told him my wishes. After the first visit by father Christmas that year, he has always been visiting my school to bring us gifts and take our wishes because we were made to belief he came all the way from Rome. I always love his grand entry each time he is visiting my school. It is always a scene to behold.

The only time I got to discover that the father Christmas I used to uphold and cherished so much is not coming from Rome but it's someone I know very well and lives amongst us was when I was in my final year in the elementary school. Then, we have this mischievous classmate of ours who can go nuts and be on your nerves.

Despite the fact he's so annoying, I still thank him for unraveling the mystery of father Christmas for us that time. When it was his turn to meet father Christmas, we didn't know that he has his own plan concealed. When he got close to our darling father Christmas, like a flash, he pulled out father Christmas' beards, thus revealing his real face. That was when it dawn on us that our darling father Christmas is our school teacher.

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I felt so bad when I discovered that the fat looking father Christmas is actually our slim looking school teacher in reality who dressed like father Christmas and put a lot of stuffs in his belly just to look fat. The beards I thought was real was only but a makeup.

My old sweet looking father Christmas was never an old man but a very young looking man. To say I was disappointed was just but an understatement. I went home shattered, feeling betrayed. I lost my appetite for days. It took the grace of my mom to get me distracted and take my mind off my shocking discovery. Now, I only laugh back at myself when I flash back those sweet-and-sour events because I know I was naive then.

I invite my friends:

@simonnwigwe
@owalama
@josepha