December, Remembered, or The Year Almost Without a Santa Claus

For a little over a year I have had the calling in our ward as Primary Presidency 2nd Counselor. Next to teaching Primary this has been my favorite calling. I love being in the Primary, all my kids are in the primary, and many of my friends serve in the primary as well. We don't have a very big Primary, about 35 kids total, which is nice and manageable in a way. One of my responsibilities is planning activities (other than Sunday) for the Primary, which can include just the kids or their whole family, and usually involve some sort of missionary or service opportunity. Having a breakfast in early December that the everyone plus their friends and family is invited to, and featuring a photo op with Santa Claus is a tradition in our ward, and this is the second year that I have been completely in charge of pulling the whole thing off.

And although I inherited the calling from a very organized woman who left instructions for many of the tasks and items necessary for some of the activities,

many details have been left completely up to me.

Like the invitation for instance:

Not too fancy, but nice and simple and easy to decipher, with all the necessary information readily available.

And shaped like a bookmark, because I like bookmarks.

Another important detail in the planning of this activity is securing Santa to come and be available to be sat upon for nearly an hour and a half. Thanks to my predecessor and her "list" I've had several available options to pursue. Last year we had both Santa and Mrs. Claus show up. They were fine, except I felt that they both kind of ran out of steam half way through the activity, and accommodating both in the photos was a bit trying.

So this year I had gone with the other option on the list, a nice man from Irvine who was friends with one of our former bishops, and works professionally as Santa during the season at South Coast Plaza. I've never met him, but over the course of November I had worked on securing him to come and be our Santa for the morning of the first Saturday in December. On the night of the first Friday in December I spoke with him again, just long enough for him to tell me that he was down sick with the flu and wouldn't be available to show up in less than 14 hours to be our Santa at Breakfast with Santa.

Well, after some choice words aimed at the the hung up phone I then called my friend the Primary President and we sprung into action. She secured a Santa suit from a neighboring ward, while I thought about who we could call to fill it. There is one youth in our ward, a recent high school graduate, who was Pete's first suggestion, and the instant perfect choice. Sure, he's a bit on the young side, but that actually made him all the more appealing.

I called his home, and naturally enough on a Friday night he was out on a date. His mom laughed and said it was funny, that night at dinner they had just been talking about the activity in the morning, and he had said "I wouldn't mind being Santa some time!" Total fate. She was sure that he would be more than happy to help out, she accepted on his behalf, and told me that she would text him on his date to prepare him. We both got a laugh out of the thought of getting just such a text during a date.

The next morning he was there with his best attitude and jolly disposition, and it couldn't of gone better. Of course some of the kids knew who it was, he is so friendly with them, but most of them seemed just as delighted as ever to have the chance to sit on Santa's lap for this very important confab.

The beard and mustache were a bit of a glitch, they kept sliding around, and his eyebrows were a bit dark, but it was a very small, insignificant price to pay for one of the best Santas ever. Every gleam in his eye was completely genuine.

Here's a look at some photos from that morning. Because I was in charge and running around the whole time taking pictures wasn't first and foremost on my agenda.

But here's a few:

These are the photos as they appeared on the bulletin board

I put up and on the files I emailed out to everyone.

I added the cheesy soft filter boarder,

I feel it really added to the whole

nostalgic photo with Santa experience.

Of course having a very familiar Santa led to

some people wanting to sit on his lap and

have a photo who normally would have stayed away.

Our previous Bishop was more than happy

to hop on "Santa's" lap for a laugh.

And our Santa had his own group of fans

who were well beyond Primary age

who came by to cheer him on and take a photo or two

Oh yeah, there was also the breakfast.

Jed helped to cook up some delish pancakes.

Santa with the Lake Forest Ward Primary Presidency

and here's our family photo with Santa

that became our family Christmas Card 2009

Thanks again Jake!

You were our very own Christmas Miracle.