The true story of what inspired me to get the suit.
The most awesome thing about having a massive white beard is that very small children think I am Santa. In December at Clark’s Fish Camp a friend’s daughter, Rayne, was surreptitiously looking at me out of the corner of her eye as she clutched her daddy’s leg. He bent down and asked her what was wrong, and she told her daddy that Santa was in Clark’s sitting at the bar. So, I secretly found out what she was to receive from Santa for Christmas and then told her what a good girl she had been and how the elves had just finished her new tea set. She was Gob smacked that Santa was talking to her. She was scared meeting Santa in person and tried to hide behind her dad’s leg, but she really believed that I was him, the one, Santa.
She saw me again before Christmas and again I let her know how good she had been and that the elves were making her a special dolly or some such that I knew she was to receive. She was much more comfortable with me being Santa, and she even went as far as to leave the restaurant and go out on the deck and warn Becky, one of our favorite servers, that Santa was at the Clarks bar and had a list! I only know this because Becky came over later and said, “Well, you know you’re Santa now and Rayne is telling everybody that Santa is at the bar in Clarks, and he has a List so whatever you do be good!”
Well, after the Jolly Season, in January, she saw me at occupying my usual stool at the bar in Clarks. She asked her mother Jackie, “Why is Santa still here, shouldn’t he be in the North Pole?” Jackie told Rayne to go ask Santa and so she came over to me and thanked me for the gifts I had brought at Christmas. Then she asked me why I wasn’t at the north pole. So, that the taxes in the North Pole were just too high for Santa to live there year-round and also it was just too cold unless you were an Elf. I told her that Santa only visits the north pole once a year to drive the sleigh and make sure the elves had done their job. Otherwise, he just teleconferences with the elves on a daily basis because Santa lives on a boat on Julington Creek in the great state of Florida and eats at Clarks every Monday night. Can you dig it? She dug that answer.
Fast forward to a few months later. In the early afternoons when I arrive at Clark’s I always see Rayne in corner of the bar watching the Paw Patrol until her grandma or some other person can take her back to the house. She comes here from the bus drop-off, so she is not alone at home as her Monther is working prepping the place for opening. she loves that Paw Patrol. So, the other day our friends, Roger Dahlke and Tessa Warnock Dahlke gave me two small stuffed animals, Paw Patrol figures, and said Santa should give these to Rayne. So, on my next visit Rayne was at the TV watching the Paw Patrol. I informed Jackie, Rayne’s mom, that I had the little figures for Rayne and asked if I could give them to her. Jackie gathered up Rayne and told her that Santa wanted to talk to her her about her behavior as of late. Oh My!
Rayne walked up to me, very hesitantly and cautious and said “Hi, Santa. My Mom said you wanted to talk to me?” So, I bent at the waist to get to Rayne’s height and started talking to her about what a good girl she had been lately and how proud I was of all her schoolwork and her good marks in Citizenship. Meanwhile, Santa’s wife Carla slipped one of the stuffed animals into my hand which was stretched out behind my back. I told Rayne that Santa wanted to reward her for how good she had been and then I presented the small stuffed animal to her while telling her that the elves knew how much she loved Paw Patrol and thought she would like this.
The world stopped. The look she gave that small animal was precious. She was the happiest thing I have seen in a really long time. She actually shed a small tear, which of course made me almost lose it! So, I stuck my hand back behind me and Carla pressed another stuffed animal into my outstretched appendage and voila, I presented her with another gift. Wow, childhood nirvana and it made me the happiest person in the universe at that precise moment in time. There is nothing like seeing that look of wonder and joy in a child’s eyes. That is a feeling that I wish I could bottle and sell or just bottle and be able to take it out when I might feel sad or down.
As the night progressed, I would catch Rayne out of the corner of my eye talking to someone in the restaurant and telling them about the gifts that Santa had brought her. Invariably she would point to me and tell them “That’s Santa right there!” Truly awesome.