Barry Claus Is Coming to Town . . .

It's amazing how the "celebrities" seem to enjoy making appearances in our store. You may recall that a couple of months ago, we had "The King" for a morning in our classroom. So I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when Karen called me last week and said there would be a Jolly Old Elf in our store on Saturday . . .



Sure enough, on Saturday morning "Barry Claus" came strolling in our front door (we don't have a chimney) with a pack slung over his shoulder and a jolly "Ho Ho Ho!"



Kris Kringle was accompanied by "Holly", one of his elves. She bears a striking resemblance to Dawn Cutter -- must be a distant relative . . .



Karen was dressed for the occasion. She has been asking Santa for the same thing for more than ten years (a grandchild), and this year it seems that a stork will be packed aboard his sleigh.



Donna Sheetz was really excited -- for days, we heard about how she wanted to sit on Santa's lap. And of course, when dealing with adults, the Jolly Old Elf gets better payoffs . . .



Finally, the little ones were allowed to make their Christmas wishes. I had planned to get to the store with Zoe and see if she could jump up on his lap, but I spent most of Friday night ferrying my mother-in-law halfway to Maryland so my brother-in-law could get her to his house for the holidays ahead of the snowstorm. By the time we got there, Santa and his sleigh were already on their way back to the North Pole.