A CHRISTMAS SOCK was once so impatient to receive her presents from Santa Claus on Christmas Eve that she barely slept at night. So much time did she spend thinking about it even, that in the end, she started having doubts about whether Santa Claus was indeed the one bringing the presents.

When the big night finally came, she wouldn’t close her eyes or fall asleep. “I prefer to stay awake and bear witness to the arrival of the presents”, she told the other socks that tried to calm her down. When the housewife finally switched the lights off, they all went to sleep, except our good sock who wanted to see Santa Claus climbing down the chimney.

In the end, she felt her eyelids closing. The very moment she closed them, however, she got woken up by whispers and the sounds of steps: it was a company of goblins that had sneaked in the living room to steal the Christmas delicacies the housewife had left on the tabletop. After having enough of them, they took big  sacks in which they placed the presents she had left under the Christmas tree. “Stop!”, the sock tried to scream, yet she was so scared that not a word came out of her mouth. When she tried to wake the other socks up, they were sound asleep and wouldn’t hear a thing. Helpless, she saw the goblins open the window and leave with their loot.

As soon as the sock recovered from her shock, she jumped from the fireplace and approached the Christmas tree to see if the goblins had let any presents untouched. Then she noticed trails of sugar powder that they had left behind as a result of eating the Christmas sweets greedily and spilling it all over the place. She walked all the way to the window, and then found herself following their trail in the forest nearby.

“Where could their hideout possibly be?”, the sock wondered as she went deeper and deeper in the cold forest. Soon she found herself confused as to where she was going, however, as she saw the trails disappearing in the thick snow that was covering the ground and she couldn’t tell one from another.

Eventually, she gave up. “It’s futile”, thought the sock and took the way back home. When she got there, however, she found the window closed and all the socks sleeping. She then thought of getting in through the chimney. After climbing a tall tree that was adjacent to the house’s wall, she made it to the rooftop, only to be amazed by the sight of a rope fastened on the top of the chimney. Giving it little thought, she used it to climb down, getting black from the dirt of the fireplace in the process.

When she finally made it, she was left speechless by the sight: Santa Claus was already in the house, placing his gifts inside the other socks. Approaching the fireplace, he gave her her gift, wishing: “H a p p y N e w Y e a r!”. So happy was she to have finally gotten what she wanted all along that after thanking Santa, she instantly fell asleep, telling no one about her adventure with the goblins.

The next day that she woke up, however, she was troubled to see that all the delicacies she had witnessed the goblins stealing  the previous night were still there to be found. Not a single trace of sugar powder was to be found on the floor, and no trails leading towards the window, either.

“It was just a dream!”, the other socks explained to her as soon as she told them the story with Santa Claus and the goblins, and she found it rather strange. Yet, seeing that the presents were also untouched, she admitted to herself that it was indeed a dream.

“That’s what happens to impatient people!”, the other socks that had enjoyed a pleasant full night’s rest advised her. Our good sock took her lesson, never to forget meeting Santa Claus in person however, even if it was but a dream.