Poor Santa Claus. He probably thought the guitar he brought 10-year-old Parker Humphries -- as well as the family trip to Disney World he helped orchestrate -- would produce the kid's best Christmas ever.
Especially since Parker's favorite musician is the late, great Jimi Hendrix.
But even Santa couldn't have known -- or could he? -- what awaited the youngster on Christmas Eve afternoon at the Carolina Panthers' Bank of America Stadium.
How the Ooltewah Elementary School fifth-grader would wind up being handed a football by Panthers rookie quarterback Cam Newton, his favorite player, after a Carolina touchdown.
How Parker shouted "War Eagle!" to Cam just before the 2010 Heisman Trophy winner from Auburn handed him the ball. And how Cam flashed, in Parker's words, "a gi-normous smile," then shouted "War Eagle!" right back.
How the whole exchange has gone viral on the Internet, with more than 60,000 having viewed his father Chris's blog about the experience the past few days on his website -- www.mrhump.blogspot.com.
And how, well, according to Parker, "Disney and a guitar aren't near as fun as getting a football from Cam Newton."
At the close of a sports year that has been anything but fun on most fronts, this is a story for everyone who's begun to doubt the positive power of sports or the magic of Christmas.
It all began a couple of weeks ago when single father Chris Humphries was offered tickets to the Panthers' game against Tampa Bay. He faced an obvious obstacle, however.
"The big problem was that it was on Christmas Eve," he blogged, "and with so many things going on, I wasn't sure I could pull it off."
But the 1996 Auburn grad also knew how much Parker shared his love of the Tigers, especially since Newton had led them to last season's national championship.
And it wasn't like they were going to miss sharing all of Christmas with both Chris's family and his ex-wife's family in Gadsden, Ala. Father and son would head there immediately after the game, reaching the relatives a few minutes before Christmas Eve officially gave way to Christmas Day.
Besides, Humphries hadn't just been offered tickets. He'd been offered a choice of two sets of tickets. One would place Parker and him on the 40-yard line in club-level seating. The other would put them in the corner of the visiting end zone -- section 118, row 4, seats 11 and 12.
With such a unique opportunity, the game couldn't help but beat out spending most of Christmas Eve with the relatives.
Still, how to choose between those two sets of tickets? In attempting to help Parker make the best decision, Chris explained to him that an end-zone seat might give the boy a better chance to see Newton score a touchdown and possibly get a game ball from him.
Of course, Humphries also blogged, "In my mind I knew the chances of him getting said football were about a million to one."
But what is Christmas if not a time for hope and magic? Parker almost instantly picked the end zone seats, then told his father, "I'm going to get a football from Cam."
Once in those seats, Parker repeatedly told his father, "This is a dream. This is a dream."
To help Parker make his dream of getting a football come true, Chris had encouraged the boy to wear his No. 1 Cam Newton Panthers jersey as well as an Auburn cap with its signature interlocking "AU." He also told his son to shout "War Eagle!" if Newton scored in their end zone.
Trouble was, every touchdown was being scored in the opposite end zone. By the close of the third quarter, the Panthers had 41 points, but none near the Humphries duo. Knowing the cautious nature of NFL coaches, Chris tried to brace Parker for the probability that his chance to get a ball from his favorite player was probably finished.
Then something amazing happened, something only Santa could have reasonably executed.
Carolina not only got the ball deep in Bucs territory at the start of the final period, but Newton stayed in the game, despite a 41-10 lead. Seven seconds into the fourth quarter, he hit tight end Jeremy Shockey with an 8-yard TD pass.
Having moved from his seats to the rail, Parker began jumping up and down and shouting "War Eagle!" even though the ball was Shockey's rather than Newton's.
But the tight end spiked the football and it rolled to the back of the end zone as he was being mobbed by teammates. Watching all this closely, Chris saw Newton ask the side judge, "Where's the ball?"
When the official pointed to it, Newton grabbed it, then headed immediately toward Parker.
Wrote Chris in his blog: "I watched as Cam looked straight up at Parker, smiled and ran straight to him. He then handed him the ball. ... The next few minutes were such a blur ... [but] as things settled down I noticed that Parker was crying. I asked him if he'd gotten hurt in the chaos and he said, 'No, Dad, I'm just so excited I can't quit crying' ... Pure joy!"
Indeed, a photo on Humphries' blog shows Parker holding the ball, his face filled with happy tears.
"That picture," Chris said, "is worth a million words."
The whole episode has launched a million images, everything from photos and videos on NFL.com, to newspaper stories to YouTube.
More than 70 people have left comments on Chris's blog, most of them mirroring these words from Green Door Girl, who posted: "AUsome story, I am crying as I read it! What an amazing memory for you and Parker. War Eagle!"
Humphries said he believes much of this is due to the family dynamic that the Auburn Nation often references. He even dismissed one father's belief that if his son had worn an AU cap, Cam might have handed him the ball instead of Parker with the pithy line: "You can't buy family at a convenience store."
But a sense of family transcends sports. It is arguably the most important ingredient to a happy life, especially during the holidays, when a family moment such as the one shared by Chris and Parker seems more special than ever.
And to help preserve this moment, Chris is planning to build a shadow box to house the football, game tickets, photos and newspaper articles.
Parker says that's fine with him, as long as "I get to show it to my friends at school first, let them touch and feel a real NFL football."
He also said, "I think about it all day every day. I know that this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Nothing like this is ever going to happen again."
As father and son began the six-hour drive from Charlotte to Gadsden, Parker called his mother, Jana Bradford, and told her, "This was the best Christmas present ever."
Said Chris on Friday: "As a parent, what could be better to hear than that?"