Summary

In this story, a child relays his Christmas eve when “Santa Claus” slept at his house. He tells the reader that it was the “last time we were all together” and that “Mom and Dad stopped fighting after that night” (45). He tells the reader that for Christmas he asked for a remote-control car. After writing his letter to Santa, his father took him to the post office to mail it, but the postman was being difficult and kept asking for a zip code. Angry, the narrator’s dad climbed over the counter and grabbed the man behind the window, “and the letter went out” (46).

Apparently, the narrator’s mom was depressed, and she “stopped caring” (47). She stopped doing things around the house and the family relied on a neighbor named Marcela to help clean, cook and take care of...