2019 December 12 Thursday in Liberty Hill, Texas
35°F that feels like 35° mostly cloudy Hi 59° | Lo 32°
The trip in from Liberty Hill’s to work today was mostly uneventful. However there were a string of firetrucks that we’re coming up behind me but turned before they got to me. I wonder where they were going? I pray that wherever they’re going everyone will be safe.
For some reason unknown to me, the door to our dressing area has not only been unlocked but standing wide open for the last few days. Now I know that maintenance also uses this for storage. So I can only assume that they are the ones opening it. But I do wish they would shut the door again when they are done. Because if I sit out there in my Santa suit, and kids go by, it can be confusing to them.
When Jessie, the set manager, arrived this morning, she was carrying a bag of groceries. She asked if I could use them. Both her mom and dad had, unknown to each other, bought groceries. So there were duplicates that they didn’t need. Most of the items were things that the local food pantry is asking for. This morning I ordered groceries from Wal-Mart to be picked up after work. Some Items were ordered specifically to donate to the food pantry. I will take Jessie’s and ours to Cross Tracks Church food pantry collection site.
I had a grand day today. Several bus loads of special needs adults were in the mall shopping today and many of then came to see Santa.
Three years ago Ian, an 11 year old boy with Downs Syndrome, came to see Santa. Though he can talk, it was difficult to understand him, so he also communicated partially with ASL on a limited scale. I also know a little sign language. After his pictures were taken, his mother went to look at the photos while Ian and I sang Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and pretended that the big Santa chair was a sleigh. When mom came to get him, he went over, hugged her, kissed her, and told her goodbye. He was going to stay with Santa.
Last year we were closing the set to change Santas when I saw him standing in line. I waved him in, got the pictures and again visited for a short time while mom looked at photos. Again, he didn’t want to leave. He told her he was going tho sleep in my chair.
Today his mom brought Ian for photos. Today, when she was ready to leave, he went with her. However, an hour or so later, she came to thank me for the joy I give to her son. I said that he gives me so much joy also. Ian parked himself on my lap and was ready to stay again. It took some persuading for him to go with her.
On my way home I stopped at Wal-Mart to get the groceries that I had ordered online before going to work. I also went in to get Ella’s prescriptions. The pharmacist had been at the Wal-Mart back in Iowa so I told her that the temperature back there was 29°.
I felt rather proud of myself for remembering the groceries AND the medications. That is until Ella asked where the pizza was. I had forgotten that she had ordered pizza for me to pick up.
Part of the reason I forgot about going for the pizza was because I was a little shaken up by the guy who pulled around me to run a stop sign. He came close to running head-on into a tractor trailer with a load of rock. I don’t know where he had to be in such a hurry that he could endanger so many lives. I hope he made it there without causing an accident.God bless and g’nite.
©2019 Thomas E. Williams
- Day 73 in our Texas home
- 31 days as Santa at Lakeline Mall
husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, and Santa
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