It was fun this year (last year to be more exact) because I actually went into the back room with all the kids and some of us adults anticipating his arrival. They lights are out because we aren't supposed to see Santa, you know, not the real one anyway.
Santa coming to visit us on Christmas Eve has been a tradition since my mom was little, so the tradition has stuck.
This year, though, it was funny because I think my kids got a little confused with the how many visits we were getting and it all started on the Sunday before Christmas Eve.
First we had a Family Christmas Party with Marc's side of the family and Santa came to visit there too. When Santa first came down the stairs we all started to laugh because his "belly" was starting to flop down a little too low. Then we laughed as he sat down in his chair no one volunteered to be the first to sit on his lap until Brother got all excited and hopped up for the opportunity to be first. As soon as Brother sat down and looked into Santa's face he laughed and exclaimed, "Papa?! You look like a big pomegranate!" Santa wasn't too happy about being discovered as Grandpa, but, that didn't stop Brother from exclaiming it over and over again that this was "Papa!" Finally, "Santa" chuckled, shoved a box of candy into Brother's hand and said, kiddingly, "Take your candy and shut up kid."
Oh, boy the whole room was rolling at that point! That was the line of the day.
Everyone had their chance to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas.
Later that evening when we were settled at home we got a call from our special friend Kris Kringle and said he would be coming for a visit. So when the doorbell rang we expected it to be him, but it was indeed another one of Santa's helpers, with Mrs. Clause and a helper elf. Well you can imagine Marc's and my surprise as were weren't sure how we were going to handle the situation if Kris Kringle showed up at the same time as his counterparts. The kids were a bit bewildered as they had seen Santa earlier that day already but enjoyed the company and the gifts that were given. And Mrs. Claus was a big hit.
As soon as they were out the front door, Kris Kringle snuck in the back door and surprised the kids even more... a 3rd Santa??? But, they were still excited to sing with Kris Kringle and enjoyed the antics of the moment. Baby, however was toast by the time the third Santa arrived and I had to take her downstairs to swing her, so she missed out on the third visit.
After the 3rd Santa was gone, I left to go say my goodbyes to my Grandma Ruby as we had been told she only had a few days left to live. Marc was outside in the front yard when I left.
Going to see my grandma, I felt lucky because it was just me and my mom, dad and my uncle Roy for the most of the visit. It was amazing to me how, even on her death bed, my grandma was still laughing as I told her jokes and made funnies with my mom. We laughed so hard and my grandma really enjoyed hearing us sing some fun and upbeat Christmas songs. There was one Christmas song in particular that will always stick with me as a reminder of that night, it is one that my mom wrote, called "Christmas Without You." My mom at first didn't want to sing it because it seemed kind of sad to sing a song about being away from the one you love when, indeed, grandma would be without her Freddy this Christmas. But, I jokingly said, "oh mom, maybe she knows something we don't know and she'll be with grandpa on Christmas." Little did I know how much truth was in that statement at the time, but more on that later.
When I got home from visiting my grandma, Marc had something funny to tell me. He said that after I left he went to go back into the house and the door was locked and he didn't have any keys so he had to ring the doorbell to get one of the kids to answer open the door for him. After the doorbell got done ringing, he could hear Sister coming down the stairs the stairs and heard her saying, "Aaahh... I wish these Santas would just leave me alone!"
Bwa ha ha ha ha! She thought it was another Santa! Love it.
So, come Christmas Eve, Sister was totally prepared to see the REAL Santa, tell him about wanting her Star Wars Legos (which she got) and get her Christmas Even Orange.
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