The Santa Claus House

Our home during Christmas.

Today my husband, Frank, clipped the bushes, mowed the grass and cleaned  our garden from all the Fall leaves… Because next Thursday it’s Thanksgiving Day and after Thanksgiving dinner it is a tradition in our house to bring out the Christmas decorations. My husband decorates the garden with string lights. My daughter Amber and I decorate the Christmas Tree to the sound a old Christmas songs and the aroma of hot chocolate milk.

Elfy… Amber’s “Elf on the Shelf “

It is also on Thanksgiving Day that the little “Elf on the Shelf” magically returns from North Polo to witness if Amber is being “naughty” or “nice”. I am not sure if she still believes in Santa Claus, or the Elf, or any of Christmas’ “Mythical Characters”, but I need to remember, where did I hide the Elf last year??… You see, in the attempt to keep the “ Magic of Christmas” in our daughter’s life, we have also kept a few secrets and gone through some awkward moments. Not only we have “The Elf in the Shelf” hiding somewhere in the house, we also have a Santa Claus costume hiding in our cellar.

We haven’t used the costume since my daughter was a toddler…I think it was the year of 2009… because I think that’s the year we got our “House Alarm System”.

…It was Christmas Eve and Frank left our relatives house ahead of me to go home, dress the Santa’s costume, set the presents under the Christmas Tree and wait for my signal. The plan was for me to park in front of the house and call his cellphone… he then would let me know if I could go in… and Amber would catch Santa arranging the presents under the tree and watch him leave.

So as I parked in front of the house, and before I could even make the phone call “signal”, I see a police car parked and someone with a flashlight going around our garden… another police car came and also parked in front of our house… and then another police car came and parked in the other corner. Neighbors were gathering in their front porches watching the commotion. Frank was not answering the cellphone, Amber was cold, and we were both “stuck” in the car.

A while after, police officers and their vehicles  left our neighborhood. “Santa” waved to me through the living room’s window, and Amber and I went in the house and caught “Santa” leaving presents under the Christmas Tree. Amber shivered with excitement… she was speechless!!! “Santa” left…Frank arrived.

When Amber was not listening, “Santa” explained to me that he could not remember the alarm code and by the time he was in Santa’s costume walking up the cellar stairs with the bag of presents, a police officer was pointing a flashlight to his face!!

A few days later we had another incident with the house alarm… I don’t remember what went wrong with the alarm… all I remember was that there was a police officer at my door step talking to me and he grabbed his radio and informed the police station – “…Yes, I’m here… it is the Santa Claus house again!”

…And until today Amber talks about the night she caught Santa… and me & Frank talk about the night Santa was caught by the Police (I wonder if in the police station they still talk about this too…) …

In the top picture, “The Santa Claus House”…- Our Home.