(Day 6 of the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories: Santa Claus)
Each year around the end of October I began bugging my Mom about writing Santa. She would relent just before Thanksgiving.
Usually around that time, the Sears toy catalog would arrive. The five of us would salivate over the pages, dreaming for things like the Disneyland amusement park set or go carts. We were cajoled into dreaming a little lower.
We were told that we could only ask Santa for three things. So, we went back and forth through that catalog. Then watched Saturday morning cartoons mesmerized over the new toys that would be out for the holidays. Somehow we chose three.
We did make it to visit Santa a couple of times. Usually, it was at the holiday party that my Dad’s work put together. We’d wait through the dinner to get to sit on Santa’s lap, then get a gift. One year Santa gave me the Penelope Pitstop Game. Why I remember that, I have no idea!
I believe that Santa represents the spirit of the holiday season. The mysterious elf who slips in during the night to leave gifts for those he has never met. It’s the ideal that one can give gifts anonymously bringing joy to another without wanting or wishing for credit or praise. Now that’s what I call holiday magic.
