Santa is back!

I got my Santa back.

I had lent it to a friend who had to move in a hurry and did not have any Christmas decorations on his first Christmas in a new home.

But today, I got it back. I found out this year the friend had gone out shopping and bought himself some new holiday decorations, but had not brought out the Santa I had lent him. So I took it back.

That Santa was given to me by my boss during the terrible 1998 ice storm. I had come to work in spite of not having any electricity at home, and when I told my boss how I liked the nice Santa on the coffee table in the reception area, he gave it to me. He told me most of the people at the office thought it was over the top, and some even did not like it at all. I could not believe it! I thought it was so nice!

When I brought the Santa home that night, my mother, T and I sat at the dining table after supper and admired the Santa under candle light. We were glad the Santa had so many details about him. We spent hours admiring him and talking about all the animals around him and the gifts he carried. My mother's Alzheimer's was starting to show, and T was drinking a lot to make his cracked ribs bearable (he fell walking outside on the ice), so the Santa made that evening very pleasant. Of course, I had to leave ever so often to bring in some more wood, and feed the stove, so that we could bring the house up at a decent temperature before we all retired and went to bed.

As usual, during the night, I would wake up cold and I would go back to the stove, put in more wood in it, bring the fire up and stay watching the stove for a while to make sure it was stable, then go back to bed to try to sleep a few more hours before going back to work.

Yes, this Santa brings a lot of memories. And it is back in my home, in a place of honor. We will wait for Christmas together.