Magic Comes, Magic Goes

Sometimes It Never Leaves

Our annual visit to say hello to Scary Santa!

We’ve been visiting Scary Santa downtown since - literally - before Uma was born. There’s a pic of the pregnant misses in front of him in fact. Sometimes he’s referred to as Creepy Santa. He has a Facebook page called Demented Santa.

He’s actually a fiberglass marketing statue for a Xmas tree sales lot. (Sidenote: A lot could be written, I’m sure, about what it means that the city has adopted Scary Santa as a tourist attraction and mascot.)

Anyway, we made it out there on Christmas day and snapped a couple shots just as workers had begun to pack it in. By the time you read this, Scary Santa will be stored away for another year.

I mention this latest picture because Little Bean seemed - I don’t know - unenthused this year about both her elf and about Santa; pretty sure this will be the final “magic” year. My wife suggested that she’d reached the tipping point, but much like we don’t want to let it go, she doesn’t want to either so perhaps we all went through the motions this year just to hold on for one last magical, mythical Christmas.

Little Bean and I read some science nerd note about how fast exactly Santa would have to travel to reach all the potential homes and how basically the sleigh and reindeer would be vaporized in the process. We both looked at each other, and said, “Uh, duh, magic!” I mean, magic trumps physics every time, right?

Maybe it’s all in my head. My wife says I think too much. But also, to be fair, the role of Elf on a Shelf and of Santa has been played by, well, me, for years. Maybe this is what a Broadway actor (a terribly untalented one, mind you) feels when a beloved role is coming to an end.

My elf and my Santa are imbued with character and personality!

I think… I think maybe I just love the little girl she is when she jumps out of bed and bolts into the living room with that look of joy and wonder on her face. That’s it. That’s exactly it. That look of awe that says her life is full of magic.

There’s magic in many ‘real’ things, of course, and that’s where we’ll go now - to music, and food and travel, to friends and sports. There’s wonder in all those things.

Meantime, Tutu the elf will be unceremoniously packed back up in her closet box, and Little Bean’s note to Santa will go into the envelope where I’ve keep all her notes to Santa, and to the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny.

Someday, her and I will go through all those notes and have a good laugh, and hopefully, we’ll know that the magic is still there, and always will be.

Have a good rest Tutu, you’ve earned it!