Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

When we were little we belonged to a swimclub in Glenside. On our way home we had to pass through the borough of Jenkintown. This was always the highlight of our trip. There were lots of stores to look at, neat old houses, and Stutz's Candy. Stutzs had the best ice cream and we relentlessly begged my mom to stop. She did once forever opening that dreaded door. But it wasn't just Stutzs I liked. It was the whole town.

We moved here because we were looking for a small town and a small town is what we got. Case in point: the Annual Jenkintown Christmas Tree Lighting. Last week, on a bitterly cold night, we bundled Grace up and headed over to the town square to see the tree lighting. I was astounded by how many children were there--it seemed like hundreds of kids wacked on coke were running everywhere. It was so loud we hardly noticed when the Immaculate Conception choir began to sing. The choir was led by a crazy-haired, wannabe conductor type who dramatically swooped his hands up and down. The kids seemed to largely ignore him but no one could ignore the feedback from the mike. The conductor promptly unplugged it and then we couldn't hear anything at all--except the screams of hundreds of children. Thank goodness the Jenkintown Police were out in force. All four officers were on duty.

All this was working up to the arrival of one Mr. Claus. One kid, in an attempt to throw the crowd of course, started screaming, "I think I see him over there!" A few kids ran off in that direction but there was no denying when Santa was coming. We heard the firetrucks come roaring down the street complete with sirens and decked out in lights. Poor Grace was just bewildered. I jumped up and down just like the kids I was so excited to see the trucks (and Santa). But Grace had this look on her face like "What the heck is going on????" Santa was soon swamped by eager kids screaming what they wanted for christmas. One mom yelled she thought Santa needed security. I believe he did.

We soon hustled Grace home as bedtime had passed and it was freakin cold. Next year I'm sure she'll LOVE this event and be blown away by all of the excitement. For a little town, they do a lot of things right. I'm sure as time goes on, I'll figure out what they do wrong but in the meantime, we're really enjoying small town life and, of course, welcoming Santa.