It’s 1979, and this Santa just looks pissed. He certainly doesn’t look like he’d shake like a bowl full of jelly if he laughed. Hell, he doesn’t look like he laughs at all. Why so serious Santa?
Nice Timex, by the way Santa.
Archive for the ‘Holidays’ Category
Why so serious?
Sunday, December 21st, 2008Are you there Santa? It’s me, Jeff.
Saturday, December 20th, 20081978. This Santa has that faraway look that suggests he’s either high, or just waiting for his shift to be over. I’m not sure which. But given that it was 1978, he was probably high.
What’s up with that sweater my mom put me in…I’m pretty sure it’s 2 skateboarders, one is crouched down…maybe he’s going for the land-speed record or something. The other one…I’m not sure what the hell that guy is doing. Dancing? On second thought, maybe the guy that’s crouched down is just trying to go as fast as he can to get away from Mr. Dancin’ Shoes.
Yes, that’s my brother in the black sweater and black checked pants. Such a mod dork. You’re like, 12 years too late Jim! Mod was dead by ‘78. Poser.
The Santa Photo
Tuesday, December 16th, 2008Went to South Coast Plaza last night with Heather and the kids. We had planned to go to Disneyland, but the rain forced a change in venue. Since we’ve learned our lesson about over-promising and under-delivering, Jack had no idea that the original plan had been Disneyland, only that we were going to do something fun.
So we went to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner, which Jack totally loved (although the moving gorillas kinda freaked him out a bit). Then we colored a little wooden pull-toy. South Coast has these stations where you can buy small wooden toys and figures and then use Crayola markers to color them. So we got Jack one of those, and he spent some time scribbling on it.
Next was the carousel. For anyone who isn’t from the area, South Coast Plaza has a carousel in one courtyard (called, wait for it…Carousel Court!). During the holidays, they remove all the regular horses and replace them with reindeer. At a $1 per ride, it’s well worth it – Jack absolutely loved it.
There’s a Santa station right there in the same area too, but we decided we would walk across the bridge to Crystal Court. If you get your picture taken with Santa there, you also get a free ride on a small little Christmas train. Jack loves trains, so it was pretty much a no-brainer.
Yep, that’s my two rugrats with Santa. I was surprised at how well Ronan did. He was a little concerned at first, but once the camera’s flash started, he focused on that pretty quick and forgot that mommy and daddy weren’t holding him.
After Jack asked Santa for “A Polar Express train, and an airplane, and some toys”, we took him to the small train for his free ride. It’s a cool little setup – a small train decorated as Santa’s Express. The kids get a couple rides around the giant tree that’s in Crystal Court and BAM, it’s a happy, happy night.
Just for comparison’s sake, I’ll have to get my mom to dig out and scan a couple of the santa photos I had taken when Jim and I were kids. I was looking at them last weekend – it’s amazing how low the standards were for Santas back in the 70’s and early 80’s…