***this post is dedicated to Patti who requested it from my list of things to blog about***
In December, 2007, Mike and Patti had their annual White Elephant Christmas Party. The concept is that you bring something outrageous, ugly, stupid or obscene as a gift. As the gifts are opened, wild trading takes place. That year, one of the most popular items was a full-sized, light-up lawn Santa. The trading was intense with various groups of friends combining their gifts to trade for Santa. When the night was over, the Bentwinds (my neighborhood) crowd drove away with the prize. Santa stood proudly in front of Kim's house. You all remember Kim. She's the proprietress of The Cantina (aka her garage) where we hang out every Friday and the occasional Accidental Tuesday.
When the season was over and Kim and her husband went out to take down the decorations, they found that Santa had mysteriously disappeared! Where he used to stand was a note, a poem actually, giving clues as to his whereabouts. He was stolen by another group from the party. At that point, it was game on!!!
This year, with Kim fighting Inflammatory Breast Cancer and everyone trying to pitch in as much as possible, it was decided that all the clues for the Santa Stealing would be posted on Kim's CaringBridge Web site (which is fun reading in and of itself...when not fighting cancer, Kim and her friends are determined to laugh at it).
Santa traveled far and wide...well, as far and wide as our small town anyway. One of the last steals took place on an aforementioned Accidental Tuesday. Since none of our crowd was alcohol-free at that point, we beseeched our youth to do the Santa stealing for us. With Sean (teenage son of Marcy who is one of our crowd) there, it didn't take much beseeching. He made a phone call and moments later Garrett (Sean's friend and son of Naomi, another of Kim's helpful friends) drove up. We laughed as we visualized THAT conversation. Garrett: 'Mom, I have to go pick up Sean so we can steal Santa and bring him back to the Cantina.' Naomi: 'OK, honey, drive safely!' The scary thing is that is probably exactly how it went as the whole neighborhood seems to be in on this now.
Pretty soon, a gaggle of kids had filled up Garrett's car and Santa was in their sights!
OK troops...keep your heads down and move in.
He's here! He's here!
Missy and Sean...we got him!
You just gotta love these small-town white kids with their gang signs!!! Look Naomi, Garrett is keeping his eyes on the road despite the mayhem behind him. (L-R: Nora, Sean, Montana)
Santa has returned to his rightful home at the Cantina (that's the Cantina to the left...if the garage door is open, the light is on and you can get past the barking chihuahuas and the dachsunds, come on in!)
(Front L-R: Nora, Sant, Rory; Back L-R: Montana, Missy, Garrett, Sean, Brendan)
Of course, Santa insisted on returning to Patti and Mikes for the party, but eventually he returned to the Cantina where he watches out the window and waits for next year's Santa Shenanigans!
Di
Too funny!
But is Santa realllllllllly still in the Cantina, or has he been moved again to a secure and undisclosed location? (Evil cackle...)
Did I make you look?
Posted by: fudgelady | January 08, 2009 at 01:42 AM