A Christmas Moment

Just a quick story.  Thursday I got a call from the young man that usually drives Santa's fire engine at the Manhattan Stroll.  He wondered if it would be possible for Santa to stop by early on Christmas Eve because his mother-in-law was dying and he just wanted to keep the kids' spirits up during this hard time.  Turns out he lives next door to my daughter-in-law's sister.  Stan stopped by yesterday and saw the man's kids and he could tell it was a really tough time for the family. 

Got a call from my daughter-in-law a while ago.  The mother-in-law passed away this morning.  He told Millie's sister that having Santa come made Christmas for them.  What a privilege Stan has to touch lives like this!

Busy Day for Santa Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the Manhattan Christmas Stroll.  Of course Stan will be the Santa for it.  He will be at the school library first then ride a fire engine (I know-cool!) downtown to the bank where he will pose for pictures with a couple hundred kids.  The pictures are compliments of the Manhattan State Bank, something they do every year.  They print the photos right away and put them in a nice framed keepsake card.

The cool thing about tomorrow?  My three youngest grandkids get to ride in the big fire engine with Santa!  The fireman is a good friend of ours and said it would be just fine.  The firefighters are super to us anyway, they always give Stan a check to help defray the cost of his Santa goodies and the gas he burns making all his trips.  His favorite thing is to show up (prearranged) at someone's house and watch the kids' faces.  He loves it, but in recent years he has done more gatherings, clubs, churches, and day cares.  He's pushing 70 now and it's just less tiring to see the kids all at once.  Of course he's the Santa for the Manhattan grade school program too.

He still does as many house calls as he can, but the number is dwindling.  More and more of the parents are opting for the larger group setting.  For sure he visits the grandkids and he loves it when a charity group asks him to deliver gifts.  He has been asked to be a Mall Santa for years but has always turned them down.  This year his good friend, the main Mall Santa, had another important Santa job and asked him to cover for him at the mall.  He finally said yes, but they had already found someone.  It's fine, he was still not sure about that scene anyway.

I have to work but I get off at 5:00 so I'll fly home, change my clothes and pop in at the bank.  I'll miss seeing the fire engine ride but I've been promised lots of pictures.  And I'm sure the kids will be so excited I'll hear all about it!

Afterward it's our tradition for just the two of us to have a late dinner at Sir Scott's Oasis, a landmark Mom-and-Pop steakhouse.  A good day!

Here he is with Sam, our youngest grandchild.  When Sam wrote his letter to Santa this year, he made his dad add a P.S.-"I know you're really my Poppa!"

Early Sleighride

My hubby the Real Santa Claus, has started his yearly visits. From now until Christmas Eve, he will make numerous visits, some to day cares and schools, some to church groups, some just to individual houses. His favorite is the house visits. Nothing compares to walking into a house and seeing the astonished faces and hearing the cries of glee that, "Santa thinks I'm special enough to get an early visit!" He takes every child on his lap, listens to their list, and gives them a bag of candy, then disappears into the night.

Some of his visits are heart-breaking. He's visited child cancer victims, victims of house fires, children with nothing. Usually, if he comes across a needy family, he connects them with a group that can give them a leg up. We've been known to dig in our own pockets sometimes, just so some kids can have Christmas. A quick trip to the discount store can turn into happiness for a child that might not have a Christmas. It doesn't take much.

He doesn't discriminate-some families are poor, some are wealthy. Santa loves them all (just like Jesus). I'll never forget the year we got an anonymous $100 gift certificate to a swanky restaurant. We never did find out for sure who did that, but that was the year he went to the home of a couple who were both physicians, so we kind of think that's where it came from. The Manhattan Fire Department always gives us a check to help cover expenses, but most of it comes out of our own pockets. Usually, the people who can afford it give Santa a bit of money and the businesses pay him, of course, so we always come out even if not a bit ahead. He never asks for payment, but says that whatever they want to give to cover expenses is just fine, if they can afford it. Usually we reap the benefits of his visits in the form of a steakhouse gift certificate or two and that's enough-it adds just the right amount of specialness to an already special time.

His treat bag consists of peanuts, gummy bears, M & M's, a candy cane and an apple. The first thing the kids usually eat is the apple, believe it or not!

He's been asked several times to be a Santa at the local mall, but turns that down. He wants his visits to be special and tries to limit the number of "commercial" visits he does. He is such a perfect Santa that people urge him to go to New York to be a Santa at someplace like Macy's, but he just says, "No, I'd miss my 'kids' too much."

He's on his second suit-I've made both of them. I made the last one last year-what a messy job with all that fur!

He's been doing this since about 1986, when someone asked him to be Santa for the Belgrade Christmas stroll, since he had "the look." Back then he had to spray white coloring on his beard, but age took care of that, and he is totally natural now.

I'm so proud of what he does-isn't this what Christmas is really all about?