“Do a loony-goony dance 'Cross the kitchen floor, Put something silly in the world
That ain't been there before.” ~ Shel Silverstein

Good Morning!

Welcome to the Christmas Eve edition of Tuesday's Open Thread. For those of you who celebrate Christmas, here's wishing you a healthy and happy holiday. As for myself, I'm feeling a bit nostalgic these days and plan to celebrate Christmas with a certain joie de vivre I haven't felt in years. So, for today's OT, I hope you'll indulge me by letting me share some of my holiday cheer.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Inspired by the often irreverent but always hilarious stories of David Sedaris' elf diaries in "Holidays on Ice", I volunteered as Santa's helper this year where duties included handing out candy canes and taking pictures with Santa. Santa at Trader Joe's? Why, yes. He even helped us out with a cart run or two! Debuting at our store this Christmas, crew members voluntarily played the role of Santa, Elves, and Reindeers. The reactions from customers varied between delight, amusement, polite waving, and the quick footed I don't want to be a part of any of this. Of all the reactions, my favorites came from children who were either so excited to see Santa, they couldn't wait to tell him what they wanted, or too shy to talk to him but couldn't stop looking at him from the corners they hid behind. For the children who did sit on Santa's lap, their wish lists were fairly predictable, ranging from the latest Star War toys to video games and a few requests for a pony. Then there was young Chloe. Pigtailed and dressed in unicorn pajamas with a pair of pink rain boots on her feet, she glanced at her parents standing by and told Santa that she what she really wanted for Christmas was for the hair to grow back on her baby brother's head after Chloe gave him an un-authorized haircut, leaving him looking a little like a lunar road map. Once assured that her brother's hair would in fact grow back along with a promise that she wouldn't play with scissors anymore, Santa asked Chloe what else she wanted for Christmas. In what was the most unexpected reply any of us had heard that day, Chloe turned the tables by asking Santa what he wanted for Christmas. The question floored everyone in earshot. Santa, who was quick on his feet, told Chloe that what he wanted for Christmas was more people like her in this world. It was a sweet moment, and with her mission accomplished, Chloe hopped off of Santa's lap, received her candy cane along with a big hug from this elf, and gave the rest of us a wonderful story to tell.

She Ain't Heavy, She's My Sister

Celebrating Christmas in Southern California requires one, at some point, to come to terms with palm trees instead of the winter wonderland most of us grew up watching on television. For that kind of Christmas, you had to go elsewhere. During the 1960’s, a popular destination to experience a "White Christmas" was a place called Santa’s Village. A holiday theme park nestled in the San Bernardino Mountains that had rides for kids and chats with Santa, but for me and my Sister, it was a place where pixies and elves lived in their brightly colored toadstools scattered among sugar dusted trees and a blanket of glistening snow.

As two kids who had never seen snow before, there was some initial confusion of how playing in this magical landscape actually worked. Should we build a snowman, or slide across the ice like Thumper did in the movie Bambi? Mistaking a large frozen puddle for an ice skating pond, I suggested the latter. Being a bit more cautious, my Sister waited for me to go first to see how things turned out. When I stepped on the ice and it cracked, submerging my legs in a pool of frost bitten ice water, she got her answer. Wide eyed and horrified, the look on my Sister's face told me all I needed to know: I was in big trouble. The solution? To diffuse my parents wrath by convincing my Sister to do the same. This was achieved by threatening her with friendship banishment, whereby she complied with my demand by gingerly breaking through the ice to stand in solidarity beside me. Our misdeeds discovered, along with our frozen feet, we were immediately punished by the abrupt ending of our first trip to Santa's Village along with a good tongue lashing. My parents, who were both frustrated and angry after having spent a two hour drive to get to Santa's Village, put us in the backseat of the car, took off our shoes and socks, wrapped our feet in an old blanket, and drove back down the mountain while my Sister and I sat quietly together regretting that we did not even get to visit Santa. Years later, when the both of us were adults, I asked my Sister what made her get into that frozen puddle.

“Well,” she said, “I figured if it was a choice between Mom being angry with me or my best friend being angry with me, I’d choose Mom.”

It's difficult to adequately describe the feelings in my heart when I heard her say that. We shared so much of our childhood together, and yet, there were moments we experienced in very different ways. While I can't go back in time and change the outcome, I can appreciate my Sister's loyalty and love in a way only a sibling can. For that, I'm very thankful.