I am in love with Santa. I've always been one of his biggest fans,
whether he be in the mall, on the bus, peddling with a sack on the corner, or
carved from wood and sitting on my mantle. Any tall man with a broad face and a little round belly who has a beard
white as snow fits the bill.
My love is so
complete, that I began collecting versions of his likeness at the turn of the
century. I will buy my 14th
this year. Although none can
compete with the warm lap of the real guy, these little gems give my droll
little mouth something to grin about.
Each is selected
carefully, sometimes taking months to make our acquaintance. None sneaks in without taking a little piece
of my heart. The year is
discretely added in silver Sharpie, forever etching the beginning of our love
affair. They all receive a
special name, although none are terribly creative.
These much-loved
treasures were the first things in our family to be 'claimed.' My family has had a tradition of 'putting
our name' on anything we want to take ownership of after our folks head off to
their version of heaven. Yes, I have
designated that some things will go to one child or the other - Sarah gets the
wedding ring, Brian will get Dave's fancy old car. But, they've never actually asked for
anything. Until this year.
Before we even
started decorating, Brian asked, rather out-of-the-blue, 'Mom, who gets your
Santa collection after you die?' It was a bittersweet moment. Bitter, because I will die. Sweet, because someone seems to understand the worth of my collection and will (hopefully) continue
it for his own children. I told him that
whichever of the kids wanted the Santas could have them. He eagerly volunteered. My little elf.
So, let me introduce
you to our Santas:
Blue Santa – 2000
Gift Bag Santa – 2001
Green and Gold
Santa – 2002
Teddy Bear
Santa – 2003
Woodland Santa – 2004
Rocking Chair
Santa – 2005
Stick Santa – 2006
Golden Santa – 2007
Mini Felt Santa
– 2008
Fisherman Santa
– 2009
Big Felt Santa – 2010
Lighted Santa – 2011
Punta Cana
Santa – 2012
And now, let me introduce you to the latest love in my life, this
year’s addition. I didn’t know he was
the one I was looking for. A likeness,
sure. A representation that Santa
recognized the reason for celebrating Christmas, definitely. I found just what I wanted it in a painting
by Greg Olsen called The Spirit of
Christmas in which Santa is standing by the Christmas tree next to a red cloth
draped table that honorably held the family’s nativity scene. He was tenderly holding the ceramic baby Jesus. A reproduction of the painting was available
at Hobby Lobby, of all places, last year but, cheapskate me wouldn’t spent the
$200+ on it. That falls outside my
typical Santa budget. I sneakily decided
that, since I had already purchased Punta Cana Santa on a recent trip to the
so-named resort town as my 2013 addition, I would wait until just after Christmas,
purchase the painting when all things Christmas went on sale just after the
holiday. Surely, I would be able to
score the masterpiece for less than a hundred bucks. But, alas, they were either all sold out or
greedily hidden from those of us who refuse to pay full price for
anything. Either way, I was unable to
purchase my beloved painting.
So, the year-long
search commenced in which I was sure I would find something much less heartfelt,
but special nonetheless. That search
ended one day before my target date for having Christmas preparation done – one day before
my knee surgery (that’s another post).
As I was strolling through Hobby Lobby finding special wrapping for the
gifts I would be taking to my nieces and nephews at the annual Gibson Holiday
Party, This beautiful Santa caught my eye, and my breath. Not only was he admiring baby Jesus in a
manger scene, he was kneeling by the manger, next to the Star of David, holding
his hat in reverence to the King! It was
much more perfect than I could ever have imagined and quickly made its way into
my cart. Lucky for me, this $80 gem was
already on sale, a welcomed site for the one who never pays full . . . oh, well,
you get it. Although, after laying my
eyes on my newest love, he quickly became priceless.
And, so begins the quest for the 2014 addition to the Gibson Santa Collection.