Christmases I remember

When I was a child, I fully bought into the whole Santa Claus thing. Santa was my hero, and I loved the anticipation of Santa’s visit to our home.

We lived in Florida, and did not have a fireplace, but we knew Santa adjusted to that. I had been informed that Santa knew which houses had fireplaces, and which roofs had no access to the inside of the house. So, even without the traditional entrance to the stockings and Christmas tree, Santa was intelligent enough to know just how he could fill the stockings and leave presents under the tree. Sometimes he wrapped the presents, but he usually just left the toys and other gifts around the living room.

Christmas was an exciting time. We would see Santa at the department store, sit on his lap, and tell him what we wanted for Christmas. He always seemed to have the right answer for what could be done, and what was reasonable for us to have.