How to surprise Santa: Leave a note by the telephone telling Santa that Mrs. Claus called and wanted to remind him to pick up some milk and a loaf of bread on his way home.

The Claus Team, this year at Chick-fil-A, Magnolia, TX

"What goes up must come down Spinnin' wheel got to go 'round", those are the lyrics from the 1969 mega-hit by the group, Blood, Sweat, and Tears. I remember it being on all the radio stations but I can't recall knowing anything about the meaning. That is still true today, however, as I thought about our busy schedule I could hear that line in my head, therefore, I decided to get started with it on this Monday, December 12, 2016. We finished our 13th Santa Enterprise event yesterday and that pretty much does it for Mrs. Claus. I still have six more scheduled where they only want Santa to show up and we do have one last joint appearance planned for a special family the day after Christmas. The wife will go with me to some of my single appearances. She is my supporter and encourager. I always do better when she is with me. Always. And, she can help spot and fix issues with my appearance. I do my best to keep up with stuff like that but with kids of all ages wallowing all over the uniform, well, it can become pretty discombobulated along the way. You remembered. Good. I do like the word discombobulated. I haven't used it in a while so I thought it was about time.

We wanted to spend our free day, last Saturday, starting to get ready to get ready for our family Christmas celebration. Turned out, I had a number of errands to take care of and Mrs. Claus was mostly laid up most of the day on the couch in recovery mode, therefore, we'll get to it another day. That special family gathering is one we always look forward to when all our kids, their kids, along with our great grand all gather in our home for a time of feasting and fellowship. I started to say it's that time when we enjoy sitting around the blazing fire in the fireplace but it's one of those fake jobs but it does make a crackling noise. I may have been fooled by it once or twice on a very cold morning. Nothing like trying to warm yourself on a flickering low watt light bulb made to look like fire. I'm always glad when I'm the only one who knows that I did what I did. Given recent developments, based on my age, it may be harder and harder to cover up these types of miscues. Just too many of them. I have an old friend who will soon be 80. He worked with me several years here at the company. He used to be an early person, like me, and we would enjoy some Community coffee together. He came out the other day to visit. He told me he wanted to tell one on himself. He is a huge dominoes game player. He is always on the look out for an opportunity to play. He and is wife were traveling down the roadway near their home and he spotted a huge sign on a Church. He got excited because it was about dominoes. He couldn't wait to call and see when the games were played. He called. He told them he had seen their sign and wanted to know what day and time the games were played. They told him the sign wasn't about dominoes. They were a Spanish-speaking Church and the sign had said Domingo, meaning Sunday.

The other evening the folks at the Chick-fil-A where we were doing our Santa and Mrs. Claus appearance came and told us that a nine-year-old boy wanted to come see us. His mom had left him out in the car until she let them know his situation. He is battling cancer. He wasn't allowed to be exposed to a lot of people so they asked if we would let him come and take a picture ahead of the others waiting. The Chick-fil-A manager gave me a large gift basket to give to him when we were done. The little guy came in and took off his mask and came over and sat in my lap. They snapped a few photos and I gave him his gift that he greatly appreciated. The people in line didn't mind at all. Say what you want but the environment is just different in those restaurants. One of the managers at that particular location came up through the AWANA program at our local fellowship. We helped sponsor her as a teen on a foreign mission trip. She is now married with a couple of kids. Her and her husband both work at Chick-fil-A. She's the one who arranged for this young fellow to get a photo made with Santa. Those are the kinds of experiences we treasure. Probably less than a minute of time spent but it made a struggling kid a little happier and we were privileged to help make that possible. Okay. Now it is time to say so long for today. I do hope you enjoy the rest of your Monday and I'll do my best to catch back up with you tomorrow. Lord willing, of course. Amen. ....More later.