Holiday Spirit

It was the first Friday night in December and the two of us were glued to the couch watching the Christmas double feature that every grandfather and grandson must watch together at some point: A Christmas Carol and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  Not the originals, mind you, but the modernized versions featuring the affable Jim Carrey.  I’ll admit it was the first time seeing them both for yours truly, but I could tell by Krischan’s facial expressions that this certainly wasn’t his first trip to Whoville or peek inside the mind of Ebenezer Scrooge.

Saturday morning came early.  A bit chilly with occasional rain showers did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the young runner as he put on his running shoes—complete with jingle bells attached to the laces—to run the Jingle Bell Trail One-Mile Run.  Prior to the start of the race Santa Claus, who would soon be giving the command to start the race, was standing directly in front of Krischan and I.  I asked my grandson if he wanted me to take a picture of him with Santa…and he lightly punched me in the arm.  If you have a grandson you may be familiar with this explanation of what was going on inside his mind at that very moment:

Oh boy oh boy oh boy it’s Santa Claus and he’s right next to me and I’m so excited

 I can barely stand it but I have to play it cool and act like it’s no big thing because people are watching but oh boy oh boy it’s Santa and what can I do to disguise how excited I am

 oh I know I’ll punch my G-Pa in the arm because everyone will think

I’m laid back and much too cool for Santa and they’ll never know how excited I am that

SANTA CLAUS IS RIGHT NEXT TO ME!!!

I’m guessing there were quite a few of you that had that last sentence in your head before you even read it.  Verbatim, if I’m not mistaken.

As the two of us took our positions at the starting line I told Krischan to keep his eyes straight ahead since there were a lot of children in the race and I didn’t want him to trip and fall.  I said I would be directly behind him and instructed him not to look back for any reason.  So what did he do for the first quarter-mile?  He looked back every two or three seconds.  I’m not sure if it was to make sure I was still with him or to make sure he was still beating me, but he did it A LOT and I know he could have run the race a little bit faster if he had kept his eyes straight ahead.  In spite of everything—the looks back, the rain, the congestion caused by several hundred children running with jingle bells attached to their shoes—he beat his best time in the mile by over a minute.

Time to celebrate.  We headed to the local frozen yogurt shop where Krischan asked me to fix him ‘lots of choklit.’  Chocolate frozen yogurt, chocolate sprinkles, chocolate chips, chocolate syrup and a scoop of gummi spiders (don’t ask): Let the celebration begin!  

We headed home as we had about 90 minutes to kill before the second part of our day was about to start.  I used the time to recover; Krischan used the time to reload. 

Before I knew what hit me we headed out for the annual Light Up Senoia (LUS) festivities.  We arrived several hours before the event would begin; you know, to make sure we would get ‘a good seat.’  (Later on it was clear that had we arrived at one-minute-to-LUS we would have had the exact same ‘seat.’)  So after killing a couple of hours visiting The Walking Dead store, eating a chocolate (is there any other flavor?) pudding in The Walking Dead Café, visiting The Walking Dead Museum, taking in a few of The Walking Dead sites in town and spending a good 30 minutes hunting a few of The Walking Dead on our own (Krischan came prepared: Zombie Nerf gun was firmly in hand at all times) it was time for the show to go on.

But first we had to get a large bag of hand-spun cotton candy that soon turned Krischan’s hands and face completely blue.  After a visit to the local pizza parlor for a ‘cleanup in aisle three,’ we took our spot in the center of town to watch the launch of LUS.

Two local radio ‘celebrities’ (they host a car show on the local country music station) introduced the homegrown talent.  Baton twirlers were followed by fiddlers were followed by (OK, time to fess up: I have no idea who the third performers were because this was when we really went to the pizza parlor to de-blue Krischan.  I lied earlier.  Sorry; I was very tired.  Plus, I’m prone to lie.) 

At this point there were still 20 minutes until the parade would start.  So we head down to the Senoia Masonic Lodge because, after all, Krischan’s face wasn’t going to paint itself!

It was there we waited about 15 minutes for our appointment with Dusty the Clown.  Three minutes (and $5) later Krischan sported the cutest reindeer face you’d ever hope to find on a boy too cool for Santa.  If I’m not mistaken (and again I could have been because, like I said: I was very tired) he looked like one of the characters I saw in Whoville the night before.  (Kudos, Dusty!)

Five minutes later we had front-row spots along the parade route.  I made a mental note not to show up three hours before the parade in the future, while my grandson and his little reindeer smile giggled in anticipation of seeing his very first parade…and of course Santa Claus. 

Having never been to a parade in a small town I didn’t know what to expect, but it didn’t take long to see the pattern: Baton twirlers who we’d seen earlier when they were performing in one spot but not marching as they were now, members of a local church (with a ‘float’—actually a trailer with a manger and a faux Jesus and faux Mary cradling a baby doll), local merchant handing out candy to the children, local Boy Scout troop, two of the Budweiser Clydesdales (we saw them earlier but I didn’t mention them because they sort of frightened Krischan, the same boy who has no problem fighting flesh-eating zombies), local marching band, classic car, local church handing out candy to the children, local merchant, local marching band handing out candy to the children, classic car, local Girl Scout troop, people on horseback (Horse #3: PLOP!  Children along parade route: EWWWW!!! Note: Carrying large pail behind horses in a parade is the second worst job in the world.  The worst job in the world? Carrying a large shovel behind horses in a parade.) and more candy candy candy candy candy…and then…AND THEN…

Santa AND Mrs. Claus!

It was then I saw the smile I had hoped for nine hours earlier when Krischan was standing a foot away from the Man in Red.  The smile of a young boy filled with hopes and dreams.  The smile of a young boy who doesn’t yet understand the meaning of peace on earth and good will towards man, but give him time.  The smile of a young boy who throughout the afternoon gave a generous amount of his candy to the little girl standing beside him along the parade route because she was having trouble getting it on her own.  The smile of a young boy reminding you that there is nothing like the smile of a young boy.

As I remember our day together I realize I won’t have any trouble this year getting my fair share of the Christmas spirit.

The kid's got enough for the both of us.