WHERE’S THE REAL ONE?

“We know what we are, but no not what we may be.”

 William Shakespeare, playwright

 

“Let me hear you say, Ho Ho Ho.”

I went along with the request from my friend, Gary. Then on my own added, “Merry Christmas.”

I had with me a church bulletin which carried an appeal for someone to be Santa Claus in the Christmas program. The interesting thing about the ad was that they wanted as many Santas as they could recruit.

“Go for it!” Gary said.

In the middle of bumping into shoppers and stringing decorations, my friend and I were sharing holiday memories.

“You won’t believe the feeling. It’s magic when you put on a Santa suit,” Gary said.

His eyes were twinkling. I could see the transformation in him as he relived the role of Santa Claus.

He spared no detail in describing the process of getting into costume, that first look in the mirror and the excitement that filled the faces of the children he met. By the time he finished talking, he had completely sold me on the idea that my next acting role had to be Jolly Ole Santa.

Finding the costume was no problem and the magic began to work as soon as I took it out of the bag. For the church program, we ended up with a total of three Santas. The children were assembled on stage. They had a few lines of dialogue between the songs they were singing. The kids were talking about where they had spotted Santa that day.

“How could he be here and how could he be there at the same time?” they wondered.

While they were bouncing this question back and forth, we three Santas were passing out candy in the audience. Our backs were turned to each other until we collided in the middle of the room. At that point, we turned and jumped in surprise as the children began singing, “Where’s the real one?”

It was fun – a lot of fun. Gary was right.

I highly recommend that everyone put on a Santa suit at least once in their lifetime. If there are any psychiatrists or other mental health workers reading this who are currently treating someone for depression, take note. To your list of treatments, add dressing up like Santa Claus. You can’t but feel good. If you do nothing more than look at yourself in the mirror and Ho Ho Ho around the house all day, it’s worth your time and energy.

Merry Christmas!

 

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