Alice's mother died when Alice was five years old. Alice, who grew up to be my mother, told me that after her mother's death her family was too poor to even afford to give her a doll. In December 2012, I had a job at a local bank. One afternoon, we were decorating the tree in the bank lobby . One of my customers approached me with her beautiful handmade dolls. I decided to get one for my daughter, Katie, who was almost five years old. Then I had an idea. I asked my customer if she could make me a special doll for my mother--one with gray hair and spectacles : a grandmother doll. And she gladly agreed. A friend had told me that his dad who played Santa Claus would be willing to make a visit on Christmas morning to our home to deliver my Katie her presents, so I made some special arrangements. Christmas Day arrived and at the planned time; so did Santa Claus. Katie was surprised that Santa had come to see her at her own house. As Santa turned to leave, he looked once more into his bag and found one more gift. As he asked who Alice was, my mother, surprised at her name being called, indicated that she in fact was Alice. Santa handed her the gift, with a message card that read: For Alice: I was cleaning out my sleigh  before my trip this year and came across this package that was supposed to be delivered on December 25,1953. The present inside has aged, but I felt that you might still wish to have it. Many apologies for the lateness of the gift. Love, Santa Claus My mother's reaction was one of the most deeply emotional scenes I have ever seen. She couldn't speak but only held the doll she had waited fifty-nine years to receive as tears of joy ran down her cheeks. That doll, given by "Santa", made my mother the happiest "child" that Christmas. The reason why the writer's mother couldn't have a doll when young was that  _  .
Santa Clause forgot to deliver the doll to her her daughter couldn't make a doll by herself her parents left the doll in the Santa Clause's sleigh her family was badly off when she was a child