Toys! Toys! Toys! From Lemax and Department 56

Lemax Collection,
"Santa Claus," 52111

When our niece was a little over two years old, she and her family came to spend Christmas with us.  We did not have children yet, but I loved Christmas and looked forward to having a kid around,  In a burst of creative joy, I decided at the last minute to play Santa for her.  On Christmas Eve, amidst the cooking and wrapping, shopping and entertaining, I charged out (with energy I look back on with wonder) to a local costume rental shop, and found practically the only Santa suit still in town.  I hid it, along with the appropriate number of tummy pillows, under our bed and awaited the big moment.

Lemax Collection,
"Santa Unmasked," 62301

After dinner, when everyone was sitting around chatting, I disappeared.  Moments later Santa appeared, red and fat, a right jolly old man! I ho-ho-ho'ed into the living room, looked at my niece, and bellered, "Merry Christmas, Little Girl!"  Our niece took one look at me, turned as red as a cherry, opened her mouth in a perfect "O", and let out a horrified shriek.  She turned and grabbed her mother's neck and began screaming at the top of her lungs, kicking her legs as if she were running uphill.

I have a way with children....

Lemax Collection,
"Santa's Sleigh," #52161

But I don't give up....ever.  Later, when we had our own children, we staged another eventful Santa episode, which we have memorialized in a grainy video. We carefully arranged visiting relatives and our children so the mounted video camera would catch their expressions when Santa entered.

Dept. 56, Snow Village,
"Santa Comes to Town-2009," #807285

I, like a rat, am a fast learner.  I decided not to play Santa this time, and left it to a non-profit group which staged Santa interventions for an appropriate renumeration....in my mind, any amount was too little to avoid the aforementioned debacle.

Dept. 56, Snow Village,
"Santa Comes to Town-2006," # 55402

Santa this time entered more quietly, mildly, and gave our wide-eyed kids an appropriate berth.  Stomach shaking, he wobbly over to an easy chair and pouffed down.  When he was comfortably seated, some distance away, he gently looked at the kids and mentioned, as if an afterthought, "Why, Merry Christmas, children...."  The kids were speechless, but they didn't scream. They didn't clutch the neck of the nearest adult, and wring it until color left the victim's face.  They didn't run, though the younger did look ready to spring, at the slightest cause, like a jack-in-the-box, off the couch, out of the house, and into the cold night.

Dept. 56, Snow Village,
"I'll Need More Toys," #56365

Santa waited a moment, then asked mildly, "And what would you like for Christmas?"  He leaned back in the chair, and waited patiently for an answer.  My husband finally prompted our littlest.  "Tell Santa what you want."  But she simply sat there, wild-eyed, poised to bolt for the door.

There was twittering among the adults, but they didn't know what I knew, from experience, that this moment could be the end of a perfectly joyful Christmas visit.....the  antithesis of peace on earth and good will to men, particularly for Santa and me.

But this Santa was better than I. He remained calm, and turned quietly to my older daughter.  "And what would you like," he almost whispered.

Lemax Collection,
"Hooray for Santa," #04241

My daughter stared at him intently, and then gasped one word.  "Toys."  A bit of energy surged through her, and she repeated a bit louder, "Toys!"  And then, in the hysteria of joy and hope, shouted one more time, "TOYS!!!"

The moment was saved.  Toys trumped fear.  Hope triumphed. Peace reigned.  And that tiny molecule of joy resides forever in our hearts.