Alice was a cool kid. She had it made. All she had to do was be a kid.

Alice had an awesome life filled with joy and exploration. Even as she approached college, Alice always got gifts from Santa Claus. Every Christmas.

She would get all kinds of gifts from Santa. And Alice was very excited this Christmas because she had high expectations of good ol’ Saint Nick.

Alice wanted her own car. And this Christmas, she knew what she could expect.

All year, Alice got good grades, participated in sports, and did other stuff cool kids do. She was a shoe-in to be accepted into an Ivy League.

So naturally, Alice wanted to pull up to a university in a fresh ride. Santa knew what to do.

Christmas night was here. Santa teleported into Alice’s apartment.

He came with ” a new permissions guideline, subarticle  A507 of the global territories agreement, Santa Claus acceptable permission memorandum, sub-article public R504.” Saint Nick left Alice a small bag.

Alice woke up Christmas morning. She was surprised to see a small bag waiting for her under the Christmas tree.

When Alice opened the bag, inside there was a lump of coal and a note. She broke down crying. Alice had expected to receive a new car for Christmas, not a piece of hard, cold coal.

Alice cried and cried. Tears rolling down her face, she ran to her parents room.

Yelling and screaming, Alice accused them about how disrespectful they were for leaving her coal as an insult and a gift. Alice’s parents referred her to review sub-article A507. Her parents told Alice, it was indeed, a gift directly from Santa Claus himself.

Angrily, Alice launched the lump of coal against the wall. It broke into bits and pieces, revealing a beautiful, sparkling, 24 carat diamond, which landed on her parents’ bed. In awe, Alice realized that she could pay for university with a diamond that size.

Alice ran to the small bag under the tree. Inside she had missed out on a small note tucked inside the bag. With tears still coming down, she opened it up to examine it. The note read:

“Search not outside yourself, remember your core intentions”

Alice couldn’t believe how she thought having a new car would make her Christmas and life special. Deep down, she had just wanted a new ride to show off.

If Alice still wanted to go to college, it was about having an experience to learn, grow, and serve. She didn’t great grades because of Santa. Alice wanted to do well in life.

Golly old Saint Nick always knows best when it comes to gifts. As he is, just one of those legendary sort of guys.