Hi, my name is Tony Hooper
And I'm here to save Christmas
First of all, you should know
That my family has a tradition
Every year on Christmas Eve
We watch It's a Wonderful Life
It's a movie about a guy who has lots of bad luck
And at the end an angel shows him
What life would have been like
If he wasn't born
If my brother hadn't been born
I'd have my room all to myself
That's my first of all
Second of all, my Dad wasn't feeling very Christmas-y this Christmas
His company has been doing really bad
And he had to fire a lot of his friends
Then the week before Christmas
We found out he might get fired too
Well, I didn't so much find out
As I did 'learn' when I listened in on him and my mom
Talking in the kitchen
My mom says I'm nosey
But I happen to think it's the same size
As the rest of my face
On Christmas Eve, my dad had to work all day
And when he came home
He went right into his bedroom and shut the door
'Mom,' I said, 'Doesn't Dad know we have to watch "It's a Wonderful Life."'
'Tony,' she said, 'I don't think he's going to watch it with us this year.'
WHAT?!?!?
'But every year I get really nervous when Harry falls into the pond, and then Dad tells me that I've seen the movie a million times and Harry lives so quit worrying because he always misses the part where the angels talk because I'm so busy having an anxiety attack over whether or not Harry will die of hippothermia. It's tradition!'
Well, my Mom gave me a kiss on the head
And then she went inside her bedroom
To talk to my dad
That's when my perfectly fine-shaped nose
Went to work
I couldn't hear them at first
But then I heard my Dad say--
'What do you want me to do? Pretend I love Christmas? Well, I don't. I hate Christmas. Do you realize we couldn't afford to get Tony most of the stuff on his list? And we can't afford to go to Disney next summer like we promised him. And we're behind on our bills. And I fired a guy last week with two kids and another one on the way. Where do you see Christmas? Can you tell me? We could be broke by this time next year. It's bad enough the world's gone to hell, and people are losing their houses, and everybody's miserable, but now we all have to pretend we're not and put up a tree and act like blind people for a whole month? Well, I'm not doing it. I'm going to sit in this room and not come out until Christmas is over. Because how can I...how can I...What if I lose my job? What am I going to tell Tony? How am I going to tell him that? It's bad enough that he has to grow up, but now I have to tell him that there's no more Christmas.'
. . . . .
I didn't know what to do
I never heard my Dad talk like that before
Then I heard my mom start to cry
So I went into the living room
What was I going to do?
If everybody in the family was going to give up on Christmas
That meant it was up to me to save it
That's when I looked at the tv
And guess what was on?
Yup--my third of all
. . . . .
An hour later, my dad was still in his bedroom
When he heard the singing
He looked out his window
And there we all were
My grandma and grandpa
My friends from school
And their moms and dads and grandmas and grandads
My third grade teacher Mrs. Brugel
Our neighbors
And everybody else on the list of emergency contact numbers
My mom leaves on the table in the hall
I called them all
Because what's a bigger emergency than not having a Christmas?
My dad came outside looking pretty surprised
Even more surprised than the time he found me
Using his Cuban cigars as Russian submarines in the pool
'Tony, what is this?'
Before I could answer
Everybody started singing a Christmas carol
It was pretty loud
So I got up real close to Dad
So he could hear me
'You said you hated Christmas, Pop, but I don't think you do. I think you just forgot what Christmas is all about.'
My Dad leaned down and gave me a big hug
'How'd you get so smart with a bum like me for an old man?'
'You're no bum, Pop. You just forgot how rich you are.'
I turned around and pointed to all the people who came to help
Just because I called them and told them how upset my Dad was
'Remember what the angel told George. Nobody's poor who has friends. And you have more friends than all the people in that movie. Just be careful being friends with Fat Pants. If you loan him your Destructo Man pencil, you'll never see it again.'
My Dad laughed
Which is good
Because that meant he was back in the Christmas spirit
'Merry Christmas, Pop'
'Merry Christmas, Tony'
And even though it was pretty loud
With all the people singing in our front yard
I think somewhere
I heard a bell ring
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