Hopefully, using the word 'meltdown' as in a rapid or disastrous decline or collapse is greatly exaggerated. I have been known to exaggerate.

Hello and welcome. I am calling this week our potential meltdown time due to scheduling seven days in a row for the Santa Enterprise Express including two of our most challenging venues. This will test our mettle and find out if us older folks can keep up. It is Wednesday, December 4, 2019, and this ramp-up begins today. My eldest told me perhaps I should talk to our scheduler. That, of course, would be none other than yours truly, and, I already do a lot of talking to that fellow. It actually just fell out that way. I will let you know how we are doing come next Wednesday when we will have a one day respite. A dear friend of ours, younger than us, unexpectedly passed away in his sleep last Sunday night. Another dear man in our Church, the same age as me, just found out he has suffered a number of strokes over time in a region of his brain that did not cause an obvious problem until now. This last series hit the part of his brain that handles his right eye and has left him with double vision. Another fellow we know well, in our age range, has been diagnosed with dementia and is already showing signs of decline. Our youngest son, in talking about these incidents stated the obvious, "This must really bring it home to you and mom." He was very much right about that, and, thanks for reminding me. I talk a lot about how our eternal hope should inform our appreciation for the brevity of life, however, we all pause when we consider just how fragile life is. Right now, I don't have time to dwell on it because we need to get ready to go visit a private school where we will be taking photos with a whole bunch of little ones for about three hours today. Some people have said that should keep us young. Let's hope that is exactly what it does.

Our crew at Christmas from 2011.

I have mentioned before that growing up, we, as kids, never saw a Santa Claus. We never sat in his lap and we never told him what we wanted for Christmas. We did believe in Santa and we were always filled up with excitement anticipating what he might bring to us. I don't recall ever writing him a letter, but, that doesn't mean we didn't have the pages turned down in the Sears Christmas Catalog where the items we desired were displayed. Some of those pages were frayed from use. I mention this because I actually was wondering if us never seeing Santa didn't make us more excited about him. In other words, the fairy tale aspect was one conjured up in our minds which may have made him even more real to us. The other day at a venue we have worked for many years, a lady shared with me how her two kids had designated me as the 'real Santa'. She is very active in many different civic programs and her kids see many different Santa's during the season. She said that does not deter them. They believe the other guys are my helpers, pure and simple, end of story. They are as sure as they can be. See what I mean? Their minds are made up. This will likely be their last year before they move into the next phase where they will no longer believe in Santa including the real one. You know. Me. Some sweet friends at Church brought me a desk placard with a red background and gold lettering. It was entitled, The Four Phases of Life. 1) You really believe in Santa Claus. 2)You no longer believe in Santa Claus. 3) You believe you are Santa Claus. 4) You look like Santa Claus.

Fellows who portray Santa work very hard on their appearance. In most circles, a real beard is considered to be an advantage. Obviously, not in all situations. The above advertisement was placed by a major booking firm and as you can see they only want fake bearded Santas. Based on some of the comments made about this ad, this is referred to as a 'designer beard' Santa. Maybe they furnish the beards and want all of their Santa's to look as close to the same as possible. I am aware that within the real bearded population there can be a lot of variation in the length, style, and even the color of the beard. In the 2018 movie starring Kurt Russell, "The Christmas Chronicles", he plays Santa Claus but with an entirely different motif compared to the popular Coca Cola style Santa. His beard is not white and he doesn't wear the conventional uniform and he also doesn't have the big belly. This portrayal was given mixed reviews with many praising Russell but not so much the film itself. The first published illustrations depicting the Jolly Ole Elf accompanied a book version of "Twas the Night Before Christmas", a poem written by Clement C. Moore, in the mid-1800s. The more recognizable commercial Santa Claus was created by Coca Cola and it can be seen in ads that first appeared in magazines like the Saturday Evening Post in the 1920s. Since I am a real-bearded Santa, I would not qualify for the advertised position. Now that you know all of this, think about it, you probably haven't wasted that much time. Enjoy your day and may God add His blessings. Amen. ...More later.