Xmas-time

Sunday (today) is my yearly stint as Santa's chauffeur/elf/photographer. My brother always gets the gig as Santa, but I get to watch as the kids get so excited when they see him at their door.

A small group in my hometown finds a few needy families every year to help out at Christmas. There are usually about five families with kids and two or three elderly people to whom we deliver.

Best of all the group does not tell the recipients who is giving them the stuff and they don't get a sermon with their gifts...just a smile. What happens every autumn is that the group contacts a local agency and asks for a few families that have fallen on hard times, maybe because one of the parents has become disabled or they have had some other hardship. They also work with a local funeral director who recommends a family or two.

The women purchase clothes and some toys for the kids. They also pack boxes of groceries for each of the families. Then Santa and I pack up the car and make about seven or eight deliveries in about four or five hours. At each place he has one gift for each of the kids to open and the rest are for Christmas morning. Some parents make arrangements for us to put the gifts on a back porch or in their car so that they can surprise the children on Christmas.

I really love being Santa's helper for the day. And the women like hearing the stories after each visit.

Maybe I'll have a story or two for you when I get back.

Until then go here and listen to this Christmas story.