Tomgutz’s Weblog

It was still a month before Christmas. But on the Orbe’s home where a bunch college friends plus friends and families, gathered to celebrate Christmas day after Thanksgiving. By history, this was the third time that this event will be done on the same date on the calendar. Although this was my second time to celebrate it with this group. This time, this came for me on a different perspective.

Last year’s celebration was a special one. At my age you will never fool me about Santa’s existence. But seeing it on a child’s eyes and action, you might just take back what you said and start believing.

The setup was that we all sing Christmas Carols. The best part is that we didn’t even use any minus one songs. Instruments are all live, thanks to my housemate Annalyze for being a splendid pianoist. This just brings up the memories of what we did on our childhood days of going from house to house with our goody cans to bang to the theme of Christmas songs, then ask for money after ruining their day with our carols. Anyway, it is always the “12 days of Christmas,” which was the last song in which before it actually ends, Santa’s bell starts to ring. This is the part where we as adults contribute in believing in Santa by asking the kids if the hear the sound of the bell ringing. here is where the magic start happening, somehow you don’t even need to tell them who is coming because they are already expecting him. At this point kids start to act as they experienced the shock of their life. Jaws starts dropping, smiles reach up to their ears, eyes as round as baseball, some are stiff and steady, while others starts to jump for joy, with dancing on the side. Honestly, I am not a kid anymore but I jumped for joy and dance like i don’t know what I am doing. I was stupidly fun, oh yeah!

Then as the song ends Santa starts to knock and enter the house. Adults again play their part by showing that they are also surprised to see Santa. But it was really a surprise for most of us since we are looking forward too see one of our friend dress up like Santa. For the kids it was like seeing their hero for the first time. But for the adults it gave us a reason to get a good hard laugh at our friend and enjoy the moment while we make a fool of ourselves.

The only thing I that i find really interesting as Santa talked to the kids is that they shy away and never look at Santa directly in the eyes. Its like they just committed a sin and was ashamed to admit it. Although, they ask some questions about Santa’s rain deers and where they are. And of course what grown ups do best we commit white lies about those things so kids won’t be looking for them.

Of course the main reason why Santa appeared is to give gifts. All of what Santa has on his big red bag was the contributions of every kid’s parent and every gift was named coming from Santa. Santa’s real gift was his appearance for that evening. It was more than enough since it brought unmeasurable joy and happiness to every kids heart. As Santa exits the house and bid the kids farewell, it never occurred to me that it has that kind of effects on children. It was like a wish come true to them. Even though I was not able to see Santa at my childhood, seeing it from their eyes was priceless.

This year almost all was the same…
Same date to celebrate the group’s Christmas
Same food to eat that came from Thanksgivings celebration
Same Christmas Carols
Same Santa clothes and accessories(this was actually used by guys measuring 5′7”, 5′8”, 6′1”, 5′11” tall. It was magic that we all fit in that one size)
Same gifts coming from Santa coming from parents
Same agenda to make kids jump for joy
Same 12 days of Christmas before Santa appears
..the only difference is that I play the part of Santa Claus

Since this the third time this was going to happen I have a feeling that this was the time that the kids will find out that we were just tricking them about Santa. The ages of those kids where 1 – 7 years old. Although, kids coming from 1-4 years old will still be easy to fool. However, for kids 5-7 it would be a tough one. Since at that age they start to ask a lot of questions and start to wondering why things happen like that.

As I dressed up, I have no idea that it was not easy to put the outfit on. Plus, your vision is so limited since you have to cover most of your face to avoid that kids recognizing you. I have to even avoid looking at the glasses that I borrowed since it has real high grade in it. It was also hard to move since the costume was really uncomfortable. I have to put one pillow under my shirt and try to balance it so it would not drop off. The boots itself was just a cover but not actually a shoes. I had to put slippers underneath it since wearing shoes underneath it would not cover the whole shoes. I just was thankful that it still shaped like a shoes even i wore slippers underneath, I tried not to bent it that much just to have it stay in shape..

After wearing the costume as I wait for my que to knock on the door, I was waiting outside the house wearing that ridiculous costume, and it was not even the month of December. And yes it is not even Holloween or Christmas yet. So, every time a car passes by i tried to hide from bushes, walls and corners. Thank God! Nobody saw me.. I hope!

As I hear my que, I started ringing the bell. It sounded like a ice cream vendor’s bell and it even looks like one. But the good thing is that no kid inside the house knows about it or they may actually think why Santa has that kind of bell. So, as the “12 days of Christmas ends,” I knocked on the door a couple of time. Actually I was not sure if someone would be opening the door for me. So I knocked a couple of times until I became impatient and I opened the door for myself, hahaha. And by force of habit i almost removed my slippers at the doorstep. Good thing that it didn’t came out so quickly, and i remembered i should not be doing it. So as I take a step inside the house, there it was, kids running towards me with eyes wide open, jumping for joy, shouting Santa’s name, one kid even gave me a hug. And on the other hand, the adults were laughing their hearts out. Honestly that moment was overwhelming that I almost forgot to say my few words which was HO! HO! HO! MERRY CHRISTMAS. Fortunately it wasn’t to late and i said it. I almost walked like i usually do since I was a bit confused. I really wanted to laugh with the other adults though but i tried hard not to. So one of the adults escorted me to the sofa then I started to open my red bag and distributing gifts. There were some kids questions asked. It gets tougher and tougher until some of the adults try to tell them no more questions for this year, haha! funny. It was even harder that one of the kids actually asked me if i read his letter for me. Haha! I just said yes and try to follow my instincts of what he would be expecting me to answer. He even asked if i read the back of it. I’m sure there is something in there but likewise i still said yes for whatever it meant for him. Then good thing I was able to bail out before being ask for more questions.

All in all, last years pre-Christmas celebration was the best one but playing the part of Santa beat it by a hundred points and definitely a priceless moment for me. Aside from that, I get to check one item on my 101 list as well as having great fun doing it. I am thankful that I didn’t screw-up the setup and reveal Santa’s real identity. And for the next person in line, I’m sure its going to be tougher and I hope we can keep up and play it right for years to come.

Here is the the video for that pre-Christmas celebration.

Pics from Dan’s camera 1, 2, 3
Pics from Caloi’s camera