He was sort of a quiet man - not always - but sometimes.
Nobody’s all that quiet - all the time.
Sometimes Mike’s teenage kids just ignored him - because
they thought he was ignoring them.
Sometimes …. Sort of…. Not too sure about all this…. He probably really
didn’t know - that’s what he was doing -
if that’s what he was doing.
Nor did
they know what they were doing - if that’s what they were doing.
Let’s give everyone the benefit of the doubt.
Isn’t that what Jesus said on the cross - when he said, "Forgive them. They don’t really know
what they are doing?"
Who does?
Sometimes families are like that and they don’t grasp this till 50 years later when they are adults - sitting on porches in
summer vacation rented places - and they are figuring out - how they all got - to
where they got. Sort of ….
So Mike was sort of a quiet man - not always - but
sometimes.
That is - till his boss called him into his office on the
Wednesday before Christmas. His boss asked
him, “I need you to play Santa Claus at the company’s Christmas Party - today.”
He said, “No no no!” instead of saying what his boss
hoped, he would say, “Ho ho ho. Yes. Gladly.”
“But no - oh no!”
was his immediate reaction - and response. “No. No. No. No way. Me Santa Claus? No. I
don’t do Santa Claus.”
His boss could see and hear that “No, no, no!” on Mike’s
face and in his stiffened body - as it oozed out of his mouth. Slowly ….
His boss then said, “Well, as you know, Jim plays Santa every year. But he just got a call last night that his mom in Syracuse was rushed to the hospital. He had to get a flight right away to
Syracuse. It doesn’t look good for his mom and as you know, we only have one
mother.”
“So Mike” - his boss said, as he pointed to the Santa
Clause outfit - on his desk. “You and Jim are the only two guys around here
about the same height and the same weight,
I need you to do this. The kids
of our employees will be here in about 1 hour for the Christmas party - for
lunch, for presents, and to see Santa and tell him what they want for
Christmas.
“All you have to do is to say to each kid, ‘Ho. Ho. Ho.’
Then say to each kid, ‘You have not been naughty. You have only been nice.’ Then
ask them, ‘What do you want for Christmas this year?’
“That’s all you have to say to every kid.
“Then point them over to the big table. It will be loaded
with gifts and they can have their pick.”
“Ugh,” said Mike. "Triple, Ugh, Ugh, Ugh.”
“Look,” his boss said, “I’m 6 foot 5, 300 pounds. And I’m
perfect to play Santa Claus - and I
always wanted to be a Santa Claus - but this suit would never fit me. We bought
it for Jim and he plays a great Santa
Claus every Christmas Party.”
Pause. Silence. Big time silence. Pause.
Would Mike do it?
“Okay,” Mike said to his boss, “I’ll do it - but you owe
me big time.”
He took the Santa Clause suit - went to the bathroom. He
suited up and it fit perfectly.
Next, he took the fake beard and whiskers and long white
hair and put each on.
He looked in the mirror. “Not bad, he thought. Not bad.”
Then he said to himself in the mirror. “This is itchy - and this is nervous stuff - but I’ll give it a try.”
Out he walked and headed back to the boss’ office.
“Perfect Mike. Perfect!”
The boss adjusted Mike’s beard and hair and mustache a
bit.
Then he gave him a big bag filled with candy and lots and
lots of Piggies and Bears.
Piggies and Bears?
Yes, that’s where Mike and Jim and the boss worked: It
was a factory with a big sign outside,
“Home of The Piggy Bears!”
The factory made
leather Piggies and leather Bears.
The factory employed about 30 women - most of whom worked
there for years - and 5 men: Mike, Jim, the Boss and two other guys.
The factory made a pink leather pig - about the size of
football - and the factory was loaded with industrial size sewing machines and
the women sewed up the pigs underneath bellies and also sewed onto the pink
leather pigs - their 4 legs, ears, black two holed noses and red pig lips, and
bead like eyes.
The factory also made a brown leather bear - also the
size of a football - also soft leather
like the pigs - but brown leather for the bears. The 30 or so women sewed on
their paws and arms and legs, and eyes and ears and noses, as well.
The leather bears and pigs looked sort of like the leather seats in an
expensive leather seated car.
Inside the pigs and the bears for stuffing were rags - old rags - but clean and well washed rags.
And surprise - only the boss knew this - and one woman
supervisor: into every 100 pigs and 100 bears - inside their
bellies - a sewn silk purse was placed - that had inside it a $100 bill.
It’s been 10 years now since the Piggy Bear Company has
been making Pigs and Bears - and as far as the boss knows, nobody has yet to find
a sewn silk purse with a $100 dollar
bill in some pig or bear.
It might be because the quality of the leather Pigs and
Bears is so good and these Pigs and Bears last.
It might also be because the secret has been well kept for so long.
Wait, too much information. Back to Mike as Santa Claus.
At noontime - the lunch room was filled with about 100
kids - including Mike’s 3 teenagers - two boys and the youngest - a girl. Like
teenagers they were sort of hiding and kidding around in the background -
especially because as teenagers sometimes they didn’t want to be lumped together
with little kids.
His kids were too busy to recognize their dad as Santa Claus.
There was nice Christmas music in the background. There were sliders and tiny ham and cheese
and liverwurst sandwiches for the
adults. There were tons of chicken nuggets and mac and cheese for the kids.
Santa Claus sat on a big strong chair up front in the
center of the lunch room.
The 30 ladies who worked there wore red Christmas Santa
Claus hats and the 5 men who worked there - including the boss wore blue
Christmas Santa Claus hats. Everyone was
wearing a smile.
Mike’s kids were still wondering in their background
noise where their dad was.
They figured -
when or if they wondered - that he was often off to the side. He was a really
quiet guy.
There was an announcement for all the kids to line up to
see Santa Claus. At that the teenagers backed back - and the little kids lined
up front front enthusiastically
By the 20th kid, Mike, Santa Mike, was crying.
3 kids wanted their fathers for Christmas. One was in the
army in Afghanistan. One was in the hospital sick - and dying of cancer. One
was in jail.
Kids wanted their moms to get nice presents for
Christmas.
1 little girl wished her mom and dad would take her to church
like her girl friends’ parents brought
her to church.
1 girl wanted her mom and dad to stop fighting.
Then the big moment happened. Mike’s
youngest daughter came up to see Santa. She was doing it on a dare - because
the other teenage girls thought they were too old to see Santa. She came up and
leaned onto her dad’s leg - only to scream out - really loud, “It’s my dad. My
dad is Santa Claus. Oh my God. My dad is Santa Claus.”
And she hugged and hugged him and everyone in the room
stood up and clapped for Mike - the guy who was always known as “the Quiet
Man.”
He handed her two boxes of candy and a pink Piggy and a
brown Bear.
O O O O O O O
Fifty five years later at her father’s funeral, this
daughter gave her dad’s eulogy.
She told the crowd in church - which included her mom who was still
living - and all her kids and all her nieces and nephews - and grandnieces and
grandnephews - and Mike’s friends - how that
Santa Claus moment changed her dad’s life and his personality.
He became a real Santa Claus to them - as well as a
squeezable Piggy and a squeezable Bear.
No she didn’t find a $100 dollar bill in the Bear she got that day 50 years earlier - but her granddaughter - 10 years after that funeral day
- found a $100 in the silk purse in the
Piggy her grandma got that day - 60 years earlier.
That story hit the papers and sure enough anyone who had
an old brown leather bear or an old pink leather piggy from the Piggy Bear
Company - from way, way back - carefully opened it up. Well, 11 people discovered
a $100 bill in their collector’s item.
The other bears and pigs - some with $100 dollar bills
are out there, in attics, in cellars, in garbage dumps, and there is one in a
small child’s casket - a child who died too early - but she loved her Bear -
and hugged it to her end.
