The magic of Santa!

When Gena and Jeff were little, and very much enchanted with the idea of Santa and his reindeer, I decided to make Santa a little more real! I used one of my pocket tape recorders to make a tape of my best 'HO-HO-HO' Santa voice. I left about two minutes of blank tape before the recording, so that after I turned on the tape recorder and stashed it up inside the hearth of a cold fireplace, I would have time for Paula and I to get the kids into the living room, with the pretext of our having heard Santa and his reindeer up on our roof.

Gena and Jeff ran into the living room, in their pajamas, and were all goggle-eyed at the prospect of seeing and hearing the real Santa Claus at our house! I opened the glass doors to the hearth, so they could more easily hear the taped 'HO-HO-HO' of Santa, and then told them to be very quiet, so we wouldn't scare Santa off. Santa, you see, doesn't like to make appearances directly in front of families. The kids understood this 'truth' about Santa, so they were very quiet, as they stood there, quietly giggling, with huge grins on their faces! All of a sudden, they heard a loud 'HO-HO-HO!' coming from the fireplace. Gena looked at me, and then she realized that I was NOT Santa (she had heard from friends at school and in our neighborhood that there was no 'REAL' Santa, and that her Dad was the only Santa at our house). She looked a little bit surprised, but happily so, to find that her Dad was NOT Santa! I told them to stay inside, while I ran out behind our house to get a glimpse of Santa. I told them to stay inside -- that kids are not supposed to see Santa on Christmas Eve. They dutifully stayed inside while I ran out the back door, to a spot on the porch where I had stashed a nice set of borrowed sleigh bells (real ones, I might add -- big suckers!). I shook them, making a lot of noise, did a couple of signature 'HO-HO-HO's, threw a couple of things up on the roof, for 'reindeer-hoof' simulations, and then excitedly ran back inside, exclaiming that I had seen Santa and his reindeer on our roof!

Gena and Jeff were jumping up and down from excitement! Then Gena asked when Santa would come back with the presents. We told Gena and Jeff that he would be back when they were in bed and asleep!

That was a fun evening....and Santa was saved from 'reality' for another Christmas! Christmas is always fun, but there is nothing that compares to a Christmas with little ones and the magic of Santa!

Merry Christmas from the Shoemake's!!!!! :)