Remembering Christmas Past

After writing my last post I got to remembering other Christmas's past. We were stationed at Wiesbaden AFB in Germany. Two of the gifts the boys got were bubble pipes and dark glasses. At some point they got two of my uniform hats out and put them on with the bubble pipes and glasses. Bobby struck a very Douglas MacArthur like pose, the picture is priceless.

The next year we were at Ramstein AFB, it was late on Christmas Eve and the boys were still up. The door bell rang and Carol and I looked at each and shrugged but Bobby says "it is Santa Claus" and runs for the door. He opens the door and there stands Santa. His eyes just about fell out of his head and he ran and hide behind Carol. It was one of the guys that I worked with and he just decided to play Santa. It was great and the boys really liked it and didn't forget it for many years.

The most memorable for me recently were the times I played Santa Claus for the Boise Police Department. We went to many parties and small gatherings, they were all fun. For me the most fun was seeing the look in the eyes of the littlest kids. They were so open and trusting and it was always just great to hear them yell " Santaaaaaa!" One of the best was a gathering of kids that all had type 1 diabetes. I was given a large bag of sugar free candy canes and in I went. Most of the parties I would have the kids sit on my lap and they would tell what they wanted but at this one they wanted me to read them a story. I read the "Polar Express" . I had never heard that one before but I read it and it was great and the kids loved it.