So, we had the traditional visit to Santa with the PiperCub the other day. He sat on Santa’s lap, chatted away with him, the usual.
Then, as we’re walking away and other little kids are taking their turn, the Cub says something to Mrs Piper. I didn’t catch it.
Mrs Piper says, “Really? you think you’d like to do that?”
The Cub nods and points to a nearby drinks counter. They walk over, and he points to a Pepsi, which Mrs Piper buys.
Then he takes it in his two hands and carefully walks back to Santa. “Here you go,” he says, and hands it up to a surprised Santa, then turns and walks away.
Proud dad thinks the Cub is doing well on the politeness front.
Very well, indeed! Sounds like a fine cub, and I am sure you and the Mrs. are proud.
I always wanted to BE Santa, when I was little. I took it as far as taking food out of our refrigerator and putting it on people’s doorsteps, knocking, and then running away.
I’ll have to ask my mom sometime if she wondered wtf I was giving away all our eggs and mayonnaise.
Seriously, though? A little kindness goes a long way to those of us who have held/hold horrible jobs. (I managed a movie theater for several years - UGH!) A couple years ago my luggage was “lost” on a flight, which didn’t surprise me (I’m honestly surprised it doesn’t happen more often - how complicated must that system be?) Anyway, I go to the lost luggage office and the guy in front of me proceeds to obnoxiously berate and browbeat the poor worker to the point she’s reduced to a crumpled heap of tears on the floor. (Like she PERSONALLY lost his luggage.) Honestly, he was that jaw-droppingly brutal. When I stepped up to the desk she started to get up, still weeping, and I said: “No, no…take your time.” and let her regain her composure.
One Christmas commercial I used to like was the one from the “behold the power of cheese” series.
Little girl, all excited, comes running in to her parents bedroom on Christmas morning, all excited about what Santa has left her. Parents shuffle sleepily down the hall and are stunned. A car, a bike, mound of presents, a huge tree, and so on.
“Whoa”, says the father, “those must have been some cookies you left Santa.”
With a smug smile the child replies “I didn’t give him cookies, I gave him cheese!”
Well, the Cub and Mrs Piper and I watched Sound of Music (and why has that become a Christmas movie?), then the Cub set out the shortbread for Santa and I took him up to bed. He suddenly said, “Santa wanted an apple for his reindeer!” Apparently Santa wasn’t just thinking of shortbread.
So the Cub toddled back down and got an apple and set it out by the cookie, and off to bed. Seems to have settled down.
Now I’m watching a service of carols and lessons from an Episcopalian church somewhere in the US - Chelsea?
Once when I was little, maybe four or five? I was so excited about Santa coming that on Christmas Eve I bugged my mom until she helped me put out milk and cookies in the living room early in the afternoon. I went in to check on them when we got back from church in the evening and Santa had drunk the milk and eaten the cookies but he didn’t leave any presents! I was inconsolable until my mom figured out it must have been the dog.
