December 17 – “Seawall Santa and the Alvin Adventure”

The day for my Santa Gig 2017 finally came.  Yesterday was our day for delivering toys and family gifts and a bin of food for a Christmas dinner to families involved in our Alvin hurricane relief ministry.  Stephanie and the other elves arranged for us to visit 25 different families in one morning, and I was recruited to play Santa Claus, purely on the strength of my personal charisma and acting ability.  I’m certain my longish white beard and hair had little to do with the selection. 

Chris and I were headed toward the church when we got a text telling us to just wait where we were and the rest of the caravan would drive by and pick us up.  So we pulled off onto the seawall parking area to wait.  Well, that was a little more to ask than one might think for a kind of weird guy already dressed in a Santa outfit.  I just couldn’t stand it, so on a whim I got out of the car and began waving to passers-by.  And the passers-by didn’t disappoint.  Along with sometimes raucous honking, almost every person waved back, from the occasional Texan wave (lifting a hand or finger off of the steering wheel and nodding a head) to full on, hanging out the window hollering “Hi, Santa” wave.  One lady even stopped her car suddenly and asked if she could take a picture of me with her son.  “After all,” she said, “It’s not often you see Santa on the seawall.”  And speaking of pictures, lots of folks did their best to get a picture of the Seawall Santa, often while driving.  One guy drove by slowly, turned around (legally, I hasten to add), and crept by again, this time trying to gate some pictures with his phone.  Not to be deterred, he made yet another contrived U-turn and drove by a third time.  This time he was so slow and so close that I could see the flash on his phone’s camera app.  Wonder if Seawall Santa made anybody’s FaceBook feed …

The Alvin entourage finally arrived and after some pictures of our own and a prayer, we headed up North.  We got separated from the rest of the group, so we were forced to call in reinforcements.  Santa put in a call to one of his off-duty reindeer named Google Siri, and she led us the rest of the way.  We even made a quick stop at a tiny little Baby-sized Bucees near Alvin.  Hey, even Santa has to go to the bathroom every once in a while.  No comments from the early morning coffee crowd there, but there were a few strange looks.

At the sight we began right away with the deliveries.  I was assigned to ride in a golf cart to give Santa more visibility.  At each home I was given a Christmas sack full of toys to carry to the house.  Others of the team joined me with more gifts and food.  At the very first house a very sweet little three year old girl gave me a big hug, and this old Santa was hooked.  The morning was magical.  We even did some drive-by Santa-ing.  Once we saw a few children playing a block or two away from one of our deliveries.  The littlest girl in the bunch rather shyly lifted her arm in a wave, so I responded with a big wave of my own and the loudest “Merry Christmas” I could muster.  Her wave got noticeably grander, so after the delivery, my golf cart driving elf whipped out of the entourage and made a renegade dash for the little girl’s house.  She was excited, to say the least.  Mom and siblings came out to join her and take some photos of the kids with Santa.  Another drive-by photo came when we saw the local mailman making his deliveries.  He had a blue Santa hat on that matched his uniform, so I raced over to him and asked for a picture.  He obliged, then returned to his own work of delivering.  Probably my favorite drive-by Santa report of all, though, came when we made a delivery to one trailer. 

As we headed back to the golf cart I heard my name.  “Santa, look over there.”  I turned to see double.  That’s right.  Not one, but two identical little two year old girls were looking at me from their trailer door.  I stopped and turned to wave, when one of the twins broke away from Mom and made a bee line toward me as fast as her little legs could carry her.  It was all I could do to get down on one knee before she was on me.  She threw herself into my arms and hugged my neck with all her might.  What a feeling.  It had nothing to do with toys being given her.  Her family was not even on the list.  She just saw Santa and was overcome with a childlike, unconditional love.  It didn’t take long for her sister to join her.  We had to do some pictures right there, too.  But that’s not the rest of the story.  Our elves hung back to talk to Mom and Dad a bit.  They let them know that the local church we have been working with had a diaper distribution ministry setup at the local laundrymat.  And it just so happened that we had a few extra gift cards in ol’ Santa’s sleigh.  Mom was in tears as she explained, “I was just praying in the shower this morning about how I was going to have Christmas for the girls.  And Santa shows up at my front door.” 

Speaking of the local church … we gave them a Christmas gift of some cash as well.  They were already set up outside the laundrymat, sorting donated gifts and welcoming local families.  They have been getting stronger and stronger as the weeks have passed, and we are pretty much turning over the reins of the ministry project to them.  I think I understand a bit better how Paul must have felt when he did his church-starting tours, and then turned over the leadership to the local pastors. 

And that brings me to my final word for the day.  I leave you with the same message that I left at each house ere we drove out of sight: “Spread the word.  Santa loves Jesus, and Jesus loves you.” 

Psalms 18:1-2 says, “I love you, O Lord, my strength.  The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.  He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”

Father, thank you for the expressions of love and appreciation we saw in the Alvin families.  Thank you for calling Pastors Lucy and Domingo even before the storm to be there when the people would need them the most.  Encourage them as they now move forward.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.