Those of you who know me are familiar with the fact that my office is located in a shopping mall. A dangerous place, indeed, for the paycheque. Not as bad as when, as a teen, I worked at a department store and was paid in cash. The good side of working in a mall is that you get to be a friend of Santa.
Our Santa, the real one, of course, visits our office regularly. He’ll sit and chat in our reception area and pretty soon, the magnet that he is, attracts all sorts of kids noses pressed flat against our reception area’s window. We invite them in for a private audience and you can tell they’re thrilled. Santa asks them "What’s one special thing I can bring you for Christmas? His favourite stories came from:
- a little boy requesting a personal robot. As he leaves, he turns around, and demands, "Make sure he’s the one that can clean my room." Santa remarks he wants that one, too.
- another boy who asks, "Santa, may I have a word with you?" "Certainly," replies Santa. "When you come to my house you and the reindeers will park on my roof, right?" "That’s the plan," says Santa. "Well, while you’re up there can you throw down my frisbee?"
- a girl with debilitating cerebral palsy, she has visited him for several years in a row now. She’s getting older and wiser. He asks for her one special thing. "A new brain," she says. He tells us Santa is not supposed to cry.
True stories, all of them. I know that Santa is not what Christmas is about, but how can you not love this man who inspires such a sense of excitement and hope? Do you remember your special store Santa?
My sister and I would make the rounds of all the stores, voting on which Santa was the real one, all the rest being his helpers. It was always the Lord and Taylor Santa, who had his own specially built little house located behind the store. That enchanting little cabin is no longer there, at the store anyway, but it will always be in my memory as one of the magical aspects of my childhood Christmas celebrations.
It seems the knitting content on this knitting blog is lacking, but knitting is happening. It is difficult to photograph, but I’m on the last skein of Tatamy Tweed for the Hemlock Blanket. Without a knitting photo and believeing that all posts must have a picture, here is one taken from the top of Mount Constitution on Orcas Island last weekend. See that bird on the right? That’s an eagle with a wingspan of over seven feet. What a sight! That’s Mount Baker hovering over Bellingham and Birch Bay, Washington. What majesty.
Life's a Stitch 
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