My kids didn't knew about CHRISTMAS

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When I married Sarah, we promised each other we'd give our future children everything we never had growing up. We both came from families that barely scraped by, so when we finally got stable jobs, we started planning for the family we'd always dreamed of.

But three years into our marriage, the doctors told us something that shattered our world completely.

We'd never be able to have biological children.

Sarah fell into a depression so deep that some days she wouldn't even get out of bed. I watched the woman I loved disappear right in front of me, and I felt completely helpless.

That's when our neighbor mentioned the foster care system.

At first, Sarah refused to even consider it. She said it wouldn't be the same, that she needed to carry her own child. But after months of therapy, she finally agreed to attend an information session.

The social worker told us about three siblings who had been in the system for over two years. Their parents had been arrested for running a drug operation out of their apartment, and the kids had been living in survival mode their entire lives.

When we met them, I'll never forget what the oldest one, Ethan, said to me.

He was only eight years old, but he looked me dead in the eyes and asked, "Are you going to hurt us too?"

That question broke something inside me.

The social worker explained that these kids had been placed in four different homes over two years, and each time, they'd been returned because they were "too difficult to handle."

Ethan had been taking care of his five-year-old sister Lily and three-year-old brother Noah since he was six. He would steal food from gas stations to feed them, and he'd learned to change diapers and give baths because no one else would.

When we brought them home, they hoarded food under their beds. They flinched every time we raised our voices, even when we were just calling them for dinner. Lily wouldn't speak to anyone except Ethan, and Noah had nightmares every single night.

But the thing that broke my heart the most happened in November.

I was putting up some early Christmas decorations, and Ethan asked me what I was doing. When I told him I was getting ready for Christmas, he looked confused.

I asked him what he usually did for Christmas, and he said they'd never celebrated it.

Not because they were a different religion, not because they couldn't afford it, but because their parents were always too high to remember it existed.

Lily had never heard of Santa Claus. Noah didn't know what a Christmas tree was. Ethan thought the decorations were just "fancy lights that rich people put up."

When I explained what Christmas was supposed to be about, Ethan got this look on his face that I'll never forget. He said, "So there's supposed to be a day when people are nice to each other and give presents just because they love you?"

I nodded, and he was quiet for a long time.

Then he asked, "Does that really happen, or is that just something adults say to make kids behave?"

That night, Sarah and I decided we were going to give these kids the most magical Christmas they could ever imagine.

We spent weeks planning everything. We bought presents, we learned their favorite foods, we even got a real tree that touched the ceiling. Sarah baked cookies for the first time in years, and I could see the light coming back into her eyes.

On Christmas Eve, we told them about Santa Claus and how he brings presents to good children. Ethan listened carefully, but I could tell he didn't believe us.

He said, "Adults have lied to us before. How do we know you're telling the truth?"

I told him he'd just have to wait and see.

That night, after they went to bed, Sarah and I stayed up until 3 AM setting up everything. We ate the cookies they'd left out, drank the milk, and I even put on boots to make footprints from the fireplace to the tree.

The next morning, I heard screaming from downstairs.

My heart stopped because I thought something was wrong, but when I ran down, I found all three kids standing in front of the tree, crying.

But they weren't sad tears.

Ethan was holding Lily and Noah, and all three of them were staring at the presents like they'd never seen anything so beautiful in their lives.

Lily whispered, "He really came. Santa really came."

Noah ran over to me and hugged my legs so tight I thought he might never let go.

But Ethan just stood there, tears streaming down his face, and said, "You didn't lie to us. You actually didn't lie."