A mysterious light in the sky

I was walking the pooches after dinner when I saw a mysterious flashing light. It may have been due to the fact that I just finished reading Oh The Joys post, but my first thought was, "Oh no, I hope that's not an ambulance...and so close to Christmas."

When I got a little closer I saw what it really was. Santa and two of his elves riding in their sleigh while bells jingled and lights flashed. Now, I've never seen Santa nor his elves on our block before so I didn't know what to do. Should I go closer and check this out personally, or do I run home, grab the kids and haul our behinds over to the scene. I decided on the latter. I spun around and headed to our house. Poor Zoe, she can't really run anymore, but she made a good effort. I tried spurring her on with the call, "Mush! Mush!" We ran in and I hollered, "I need everyone in the car immediately!"

We drove down the street and spotted him. Our 7-year-old is still a believer so as we drove by, I explained how, while I was out on my walk, I came to see Santa's sleigh in the distance. His excited response was, "In the sky??!! In the sky??!!" We rolled down the window and he yelled, "Hi Santa". That's when we heard the jingle bells. After a moment, we turned around and headed home.

As we arrived back at home, we were all speculating on why Santa would be out on December 23rd? Our little boy was literally shaking. He just couldn't believe he saw the real Santa.

I had to take the dogs out again to finish their interrupted business and I saw him again, this neighbor of ours whom I do not know but now have a great appreciation for. It's like he's living the movie "The Santa Claus" in real life.

About two years ago just before Christmas, my sister said to me, "You have Santa living on your street." A few days after that, I saw this neighbor of ours for the first time. He was a large man with a full white beard. He was also wearing a red knit cap. The next time I saw him, he had on a red coat and the same red hat. A few months ago, I drove down our block and saw that this man was building something in his driveway. It was a sleigh. I said to The Swede, "This guy actually thinks he's Santa." Now, today, I see he has the sleigh out and is driving around the neighborhood talking to and taking pictures with the neighborhood children. And, like the movie, there was a growing group of kids following behind the sleigh.

I have to give this man so much credit. He gave my little boy a thrill he'll probably never forget. I can barely get a string of lights out in front of our house and this guy actually builds a moving sleigh complete with working Christmas lights and jingling sleigh bells -- something he can only use one, maybe two, days a year...all for the joy of the kids.