My grandfather was the ugliest Santa. The UGLIEST! Yet all us kids believed he was the real deal. Fof was the kindest, well meaning person who existed in our universe and every year (or at least as long as the suit and mask lasted) he would ignore the smell of moth balls and what ever else had nested in that God-awful costume and bring Santa to life. All us kids were truly mesmerized by this being as he "Ho-Ho-Ho'd" and reached into his pack or conveniently left it under the tree and "disappeared" - and, like Clark Kent, Fof would arrive too late to have seen Santa, as we all tried to explain how he missed him and how Santa was so jolly, knew all our names and just what we wanted, secretly loving the awe and joy in our eyes at the wonderment of the man and the night.
Only once did I see him do the quick change. I heard someone in the cellar and, looking down the stairs, he looked back at me with finger to his lips as if saying "Shhhh..." and I understood.
It still did not kill the wonderment and in that instant I learned a whole new dimension of what Christmas love meant to him for his family.
I still wish we had that damn suit, tho
Hoping you all had a Merry Christmas
https://thena3.blogspot.com/2011/12/merry-christmas-to-all.html
