Santa Matt's ramblings

So the whole family gets together for a late breakfast or brunch. All of my kids and grand kids were there and Pam's fiancee' Zack and Monica's brother and his two kids. Quite a few of us and a small table for the grand kids and their chaperon which doesn't show in the pictures.  Here we have Ralph and Angela, Monica's Brother Steve and James Here we have James again and his wife Adrienne, Pam and Zack. In the background you can see Jonathon, Steve's son and the chaperon for the grandkids table around the corner.  I peeled a blue colored egg and it must have had a small hole in the shell. Look at the interesting pattern it left.  Jonathon took turns giving his second cousins piggyback and horsey rides. Here is Sera's turn as soon as she puts down here Easter loot.  Here is Angela and Monica sitting and chilling, talking to James in the picture below. In the background you can see Jonathon giving AJ a ride. I think AJ enjoyed it more t...

So I'm sitting in church this morning, in the back row with my fellow Knights. You see 11:00 AM Mass today was a Corporate Communion and I, being a Fourth Degree Knight and in the Honor Guard, helped escort Father in before taking our seats in the back. So anyway, I'm sitting on the first seat next to the center aisle, in the back row, and I look across the aisle and I see a little strawberry blond girl maybe 4 or 5 years old. She smiles at me. I smile at her. I wave at her and she waves at me. This kind of thing goes on for a little over half of the Mass until one of the times we stand, she slips out of the pew and comes over to me. The Congregation sits down. She says, "You put a present for me under our Christmas tree." I say "Yes, I know." Then she says "Thank you." and scampers back to her pew, ju st as her parents realize she is gone and start looking around. At the rite of peace I go and give her mom one of my "I saw you being nice...

Mom to Mom Sales! This morning my two daughters went to the Mom to Mom sale at our church. (Even though only one of them is a mom, they like to do things together. Sisters, go figure.) Anyway, Angela took 20 boxes of children clothes, most of it from preemie through 2T. She also had assorted baby furniture, cribs, high chairs that sort of thing, all of the stuff one gathers when one has twins. She also brought two little picnic tables her husband Ralph had made. Angela priced every article of clothing she had a 25 cents. She gave boxes of stuff to Heartbeat (who collects infant needs for mothers who need help and choose life over abortion). All of the big stuff was in a consignment area. The doors opened at 8:00AM and people were lined up to get the bargains. By 10:00AM all of Angela's furniture was sold. At one point a mom and her little girl were shopping and the little girl wanted some Elmo shoes sized for a preemie. Her mom told her, "They won't fit you." To which...

Many years ago a friend of mine told me that at Christmas time he dressed up as Santa for his family. He even brought his suit to work and after work one evening put it on so I and others in the office could see how he looked. I still have a Polaroid picture of him tucked away. I thought it was pretty cool and that maybe some day I might like to try it. My chance came a few years later. At the children's Mass at our church, Santa would always make an appearance at the end of the service. The youth minister was always Santa but one year he told the organizer that he no longer wanted to be Santa as he was afraid that now that his sons were older they might recognize him and not believe in Santa. The organizer, Susie, could not find anyone else to be Santa. Everyone was too shy. She came to me and asked me if I would do it. I said "Sure". At the time I worked for an Alarm Company and company policy forbid having a beard but the church's costume came with a pretty nice be...