Rita Butt
Columns
November 25, 2008 09:23 AM
Rita Butt
Every year, the Old Fellow and I sit and watch the Santa Claus parade on T.V. It is as if we are young again.
We remember taking our children all the way downtown because they knew, in spite of other Santas they saw around, the real one was at Eaton’s and came down Yonge Street.
When I was young, I thought the real Santa was in the Coca-Cola ads. I liked him best.
We remember standing for at least an hour with the children at our favourite spot high on some stairs, afraid to budge in case someone usurped our special place.
On very cold days we envied those behind the windows.
All the children were abuzz with excitement and even though they watched the bands, clowns and floats, they were only the prelude to the big event.
Even the adults were carried away with the excitement and when Santa finally appeared, the joy and happiness was wonderful to see.
Adults were enchanted and caught up in the fantasy. To see all the happy and excited faces of children waving and shouting almost made the grown-ups believe and they also waved and shouted, “Here I am, Santa! Remember me?”
When the parade was over, most people strolled down to Eaton’s to line up for “request time” and a steady stream of children held their lists.
Eventually we wandered off to the Annex where there was a doughnut machine making Tiny Tim doughnuts. This was great to watch and you could manage to eat a whole box.
What a wonderful day. The children were always anxious to find out if Santa had really heard and understood their requests.
In our time, as soon as the Eaton’s catalogue arrived, we hoped and prayed and, of course, informed our parents what we felt would bring complete happiness.
What we chose very often didn’t match up with the things we received, but the explanation was Santa had run out of specific items.
Sometimes there were tickets marked Kresge’s on things, but that was because Santa had stopped to get more things.
It is hard to imagine children making a list that included underwear, hats, gloves, sweaters, pyjamas, socks and hair ribbons, but those were a few of the items Santa left at our house.
However, we always received one big item we had put on our list and a few games, books and toys.
We knew this was our last chance until next Christmas with the exception of our birthdays, when we were lucky to get one present and a cake.
I’m sure today’s children are just as pleased and excited as we used to be.
What a wonderful time of year.
Rita Butt is a York Region resident and self-published author.