2011 December 23

            Last night was my last time as Santa at Jolly Holiday Lights.  That is by far one of the best things that I volunteer for.  I posed with babies and grandparents on my lap I also had one photo with two rather large dogs.  One little boy would not come up to see me even when his two brothers and a sister where there.  I offered him a candy cane and he was willing to sit on my lap. A future union negotiator in the making. 

            Many people that I’ve talked to about Jolly Holiday Lights tell me that they’ve been waiting for it to snow, because it is so much prettier with the lights in the snow.  Well tonight is the last night for the lights and still no snow.  We had a steady stream of people right up to the nine o’clock closing.  I was surprised to find that a nine they shut the door to ‘Santa’s Village’ even though there are still a lot of cars that haven’t made it all the way through the light show.  I would have thought that they’d keep the ‘village’ open until the last car was out of the gate.

            Ella works some extra hours today at the clubhouse because the office is closed.  Someone has to be in attendance whenever the building is open to members.  Normally she works five to eight on Fridays.  Today she works two to eight.  She does not work either Saturday or Sunday (Christmas Eve and Christmas) but does work on Monday from two to six.

            It was only fifteen degrees this morning but the sun came up nice and bright and is supposed to be cloudless all day … soaking up that passive solar heat.

            Several months ago I went to Veterans’ Hospital because I wanted to get my prescriptions through them.  I was told that I had to have a copy of my discharge papers as proof of service.  I looked through my safe deposit box and all the papers that I could find at home to no avail.  Considering the number of times I’ve moved since I was discharged and then downsizing to live in the RV, I’m not surprised that they were AWOL.  So, I went online and filled out all the information to have a copy mailed to me.  I was surprised that, after filling out all the information and submitting it online, that I had to print it out and sign the papers and then mail them.  So, really?  What was the purpose of filling out the forms and submitting them, if they had to be snail mailed anyway?  Oh, yeah, I forgot, bureaucrats!  Yesterday, the copy came in the mail.  Of course now there are the holidays to get through before any government employee will be working again.  Even then I may wait a few extra days for their ‘holiday fog’ to clear.

            I may take a couple of days off from writing the blogs.  So, Merry Christmas from Mr. and Mrs. Clause here at the Northpole.