I am back at home and ready for this weekend’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge with Randy Seaver on Genea-Musings.

Here is your assignment, should you decide to accept it (you ARE reading this, so I assume that you really want to play along – cue the Mission Impossible music!):

1)  Tell us your favorite memory of “being Santa Claus.”  Have you ever put on the red suit?  Were you Santa Claus to your children or grandchildren?  Did you bring gifts to people out of the love in your heart?

I can’t say that I’ve ever actually dressed as Santa Claus, nor has my husband, Dave. However, when our son, Michael, was three or maybe four, he was old enough to have some understanding of Santa Claus traveling by sleigh with his reindeer, entering homes through the chimney and placing gifts around the Christmas tree.

I came up with what I thought was a terrific plan for “proving” Santa’s visit. I used black chalk and Dave’s shoes to trace and color in “Santa’s” footsteps around our fireplace.

Dave even took a picture that morning, but the chalk lines don’t really show up in the photo. However, Michael was quite impressed with the trail that Santa left and then made a beeline for the Christmas tree and the gifts. One of his presents, from Grandmas, was the pedal car seen next to him in this vintage picture.

This is as close as I’ve ever come to playing Santa Claus.

Thanks, Randy, for this week’s challenge, which jogged another buried memory of mine of the holiday season.

Merry Christmas to All!