In memory of my dad's best Christmas

One of the best Christmases ever was when we lived at the coast, my dad borrowed a Santa suit for the store and came down to play Santa for my brothers kids and mine. He was suppose to walk around outside and let them see him walking through the neighborhood.  They were all playing in the living room when he went back and forth about five times before someone spotted him. We all were excited as we thought they would all watch him walk through the neighborhood.

Those kids saw him and screamed “It’s Santa” and took off for their bedroom striping and throwing their clothes as they went yelling “hurry! Hurry! He won’t come unless we are in bed. All five of them were in bed in a minute flat with their mouths and eyes both shut.

He was so disappointed so he came up and rang the doorbell and asked for them.  They came flying out of the bedroom in their robes. We knew for sure they would know who he was up close, nope they were so excited they did not recognize him. He handed each of them a small gift that he originally was suppose to leave on the porch steps.

He was a brave man, if they did not know him now maybe he could talk, yep he went “ho,ho,ho” and they grinned from ear to ear. He sat and talked to them about what they wanted and then told them he had to be on his way. They went to bed with tears in their eyes.

Dad thought that was so much fun he went down to all the grocery stores he could find open and got candy and little stuff and then went to every friend we had that had small kids and played Santa.  Surprised the parents and the kids but since my husband was with Santa they let him in. The kids got their candy and one of our friends kids opened the door and just stood and cried. He picked her up and the whole time he was giving presents to the other kids she just hugged his neck and kept saying “oh Santa, oh Santa” with tears streaming down her face.  For years she talked about the year Santa came to the house.

My dad spent a lot of money that year and it was worth every penny he spent, he said it was the best Christmas he had in his whole life. Every Christmas he talked about that Christmas and is a great Christmas memory for us to share. I can never see Santa without thinking of that year and my dad.