My two brothers and I believed in Santa well into middle school. We held onto the magic because of one man, Mr. R. He's the REAL Santa in our town. We went downtown to sit on his lap every Christmas Eve. He had a twinkle in his eye that no mall Santa could ever rival. And he always knew our names.
One year, I really wanted a scooter, but when Santa asked me what I wanted, I was so excited I totally forgot. In the car on the way home I cried so hard because I just knew I wasn't going to get the scooter... but I did! Because Santa is all-knowing. But what really kept us believing is when he would call to my parents in the crowd by name. Sure, there could very well be a system of microphones in which the Snow Queen would tell Santa our names (there is) but there's no way he could know our parents unless he really WAS Santa.
Turns out, Santa knew us so well because I grew up with his son. We went to preschool together on up through high school. He also went to the same church as my neighbors. I don't remember when I found out (I'm guessing even his son didn't know because he never blew his dad's cover), but my mom says my youngest brother, who was in late elementary/early middle school at the time, heard Mr. R. a few aisles over in the super market and recognized his voice as Santa's.
The magic was broken, but not really. We still sat on his lap, year after year. And yesterday, we passed on that magic when Nigel sat in Santa's lap - the REAL Santa, Mr. R. I'm not gonna lie, I cried. And what made it even more special is that it was Tim's first time EVER seeing Santa (I know, how un-American... haha)!
Checking in with the Snow Queen
A stunned Nigel
A very PO'ed Nigel
3 comments:
Wow! He looks so authentic! Is his hair and beard real? What a great tradition.
We went yesterday! Fun!
Awwww, too cute! Ah, that look of terror on Nigel's face. I know that look all too well. Sophie still is not fond of getting too close to Santa. Which reminds me...I should post our Santa photos. The only way I could get the kids near Santa is if we were with them and holding them in place so they couldn't run. *smile*
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