Santa’s Shorts
Stories, that is! Or should that be, “are”?
Mom came in with toddler on hip, put child down to get camera out of her purse. By the time she looked back up, child had run out of the set, under the guide ropes and about 30 yards on the way to Nordstrum’s! Not screaming or crying, just getting out of there!
Oldest kid on my lap: 94 year old girl. Youngest, 4 days.  That’s not a typo—a 4–day–old child.  Too swaddled up to tell what kind!  Of course younger ones in the oven as well.
Languages I have heard: Portugese, Hebrew, Albanian, Swedish, Japanese, German, The Queen’s English, Indian dialects, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Nigerian, Vietnamese, New York Bronx.
A little girl didn’t want to be on my lap, but her parents kept cajoling her to stay. “One more picture! Then we’ll be done!”  She kept squirming and trying to get away, then settled down for a microsecond when the shot was taken.  Then she shrieked, “I’m done! I’m done!”  Jumped away and left the set!
Another little girl was vacillating between abject fear and overly–excited joyousness and thrills.  Just like you had taken your hand in front of your face and going up revealed a smile, going down revealed a frown.  Literally moment by moment switching.  Talk about schizophrenic… So funny watching her facial expression.
Two weeks ago, I waved at little girl outside of set with her parents, but she didn’t want to have anything to do with Santa.  Last night, she came on set with parents holding both her hands.  Then she broke away from parents, jumped up into Santa’s lap, just hugged and snuggled for minutes to the dropped jaws of her parents!
There has some talk of snow this Sunday.  I’ve been asking around about how reliable that is in Durham.  After all, if snow is mentioned in Chattanooga, we all know it will rain.  If we get snow we are usually blindsided by it through Birmingham or Atlanta.  Well here most people think it is pretty accurate—not that there will be much, but I am looking forward to seeing it snow from my 4th floor window. We shall see.
Another strange phenomenon are the kids who are barely able to pronounce the words (K-2?) asking for binoculars and telescopes… I am happy to hear the requests, but easily have received about 10 or so requests.  Makes me wonder where the marketing is coming from, or iof there are programs pushing them.  Maybe there is a planetarium in the area and recent field trips.  I have asked the kids, but they don’t seem to know where they have heard about it. Inquiring minds want to know…
Books read by Santa so far in Durham: The Shack by Wm. Paul Young, a kind of a Celestine Prophecy for Christians; The Great Santa Search (don’t have author name.. down at the mall where I read during lunch and supper breaks.
Santa Rich Dwyer
May the magic of Christmas keep the twinkle in your eye!
*<|:-D}}}>

Santa’s Shorts

Stories, that is! Or should that be, “are”?

Mom came in with toddler on hip, put child down to get camera out of her purse. By the time she looked back up, child had run out of the set, under the guide ropes and about 30 yards on the way to Nordstrum’s! Not screaming or crying, just getting out of there!

Oldest kid on my lap: 94 year old girl. Youngest, 4 days.  That’s not a typo—a 4–day–old child.  Too swaddled up to tell what kind!  Of course younger ones in the oven as well.

Languages I have heard: Portugese, Hebrew, Albanian, Swedish, Japanese, German, The Queen’s English, Indian dialects, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Nigerian, Vietnamese, New York Bronx.

A little girl didn’t want to be on my lap, but her parents kept cajoling her to stay. “One more picture! Then we’ll be done!”  She kept squirming and trying to get away, then settled down for a microsecond when the shot was taken.  Then she shrieked, “I’m done! I’m done!”  Jumped away and left the set!

Another little girl was vacillating between abject fear and overly–excited joyousness and thrills.  Just like you had taken your hand in front of your face and going up revealed a smile, going down revealed a frown.  Literally moment by moment switching.  Talk about schizophrenic… So funny watching her facial expression.

Two weeks ago, I waved at little girl outside of set with her parents, but she didn’t want to have anything to do with Santa.  Last night, she came on set with parents holding both her hands.  Then she broke away from parents, jumped up into Santa’s lap, just hugged and snuggled for minutes to the dropped jaws of her parents!

There has some talk of snow this Sunday.  I’ve been asking around about how reliable that is in Durham.  After all, if snow is mentioned in Chattanooga, we all know it will rain.  If we get snow we are usually blindsided by it through Birmingham or Atlanta.  Well here most people think it is pretty accurate—not that there will be much, but I am looking forward to seeing it snow from my 4th floor window. We shall see.

Another strange phenomenon are the kids who are barely able to pronounce the words (K-2?) asking for binoculars and telescopes… I am happy to hear the requests, but easily have received about 10 or so requests.  Makes me wonder where the marketing is coming from, or iof there are programs pushing them.  Maybe there is a planetarium in the area and recent field trips.  I have asked the kids, but they don’t seem to know where they have heard about it. Inquiring minds want to know…

Books read by Santa so far in Durham: The Shack by William Paul Young, a kind of a Celestine Prophecy for Christians, The Great Santa Search by Jeff Guinn.

Santa Rich Dwyer