Spreading Christmas Joy

Last night Emma and I were invited to ride on the Santa Truck for the Redmond Fire Department.  The Robillards go every year, and Brian was driving last night with Kenton as his co-driver (i.e. music man/siren master/bell ringer).  The fully-restored, antique truck is decked out with holiday lights, a lit 'Merry Christmas' sign on the front grill, and plenty of bench seats in the open-air back.  We brought our blankets, hats, mittens and scarves, and were *so* lucky to not have a drop of rain or whip of wind.  It was a beautiful clear night.

Santa and Buddy the Elf rode from the back step, hanging on to the rails, jumping off with candy canes in hand at every sighting of a child peeking from a window or standing outside.  I remember the pure joy on Emma's face as a wee one when Puyallup Fire would come through each year - and how we would rush out to wave to Santa, give some canned goods for the food bank, and sing along to the blasting carols.  This was our turn to be in the giving end.

We waved, sung, wished a Merry Christmas and giggled the entire way - and watching those children - standing out with all of their Christmas jammies on... hugging Santa and Buddy... their faces lit with pure joy... was priceless.  I so want to do this again.  Here are some highlights:

1.  As we headed out from City Hall we stopped at a red light in front of the library - there was a Brownie meeting in a conference room that faced the street.  Santa and Buddy were waving like crazy - and a little girl was at the window waving frantically!  You could just hear her saying "look! there's Santa!" and no one believing her... and then they came, one by one, with their little faces pressed against the glass.  Jumping up and down with glee.

2.  We drove through a neighborhood that had a sweetie-pie of all of 3 years old, all dressed in pink with Christmas slippers - she was so excited to see Santa, and hug him, that I had to hop out of the truck with camera in hand.  I got the cutest picture of them - and I'm asking the parents "what's your email?!?"  I had to get this picture to them.  The Dad runs in to bring me his Microsoft business card (of course, we were in Redmond) and I missed the truck.  Ha!  I was running after it and hopped on with Santa before we got too far.

3.  The amazing response of people giving boxed and canned food for donation - kids bringing them up to Santa in exchange for a candy cane and a hug.  One older lady, probably a grandma, stood at her corner patiently until we got to her section and she had a GIANT Hefty bag (printed in cute Christmas cheer) full of new toys - she stood there to give her part to make a child's Christmas more magical. Awesome.

4.  The little girl who stood at the corner waiting for our truck to come, jumping up and down for Santa, hugging him - running back to the corner - running back and hugging him, just beside herself!  And as Santa was climbing back up on the truck to keep going, she took him by the hand and pointed to her culdesac and yelled "Don't forget Tristen Santa!".  So cute.  We went to go find Tristen.

5.  We came upon a beautifully decorated house and a few women came out onto the porch to see us - and then a few more - and then about 20 women were all outside with their Christmas sweaters on, and blinking necklaces, and hot toddies in hand - asking Santa and Buddy to pose with their group for a photo.  No children were at this house, but it was obviously a ladies' night out for the holiday season - and it was so cute to see these older women so excited about Santa!

6.  Finally, in the last neighborhood, our truck of wavers started singing along with Dolly Parton's rendition of Jingle Bells blaring across the loud speaker - we were all very engaged.  And up the street, we could see a Grandma-aged lady outside waving her arms like she was directing a choir or orchestra - all alone, just adding her part to the performance - it was the sweetest sight.  And then Tracy leaned over to me and said "you know, that's you in 20 years Lisa".  So true. :)