16 November 2008, 7:07 am
It is now Sunday afternoon, and it's my day off. I'm Roger Walker, and in addition to being your editor here at the Buri Ram Post, I am also founder and director of the Tree of Life Christian Children's Center and Orphanage. To pass the time, I thought it would be fun to write about todays events here at the TreeHouse.
Oh, come on now! Who ever heard of celebrating Christmas in November in Buri Ram? That's absurd!
Santa Claus must surely know that Christmas Day is celebrated throughout most of the known world on the 25th of December each year--- ok, we must make allowances for places such as Germany-- and that means the jolly old elf must be busily working, preparing all the gifts, making, painting, packaging, wrapping, tagging and loading them all into his sleigh to be ready in time for that big Christmas eve launch around the world. Santa is probably feeling pretty good about now because of all those on-line orders he has been receiving these days.
Now, no matter what you think, your sure couldn't convince anyone in this household full of expectant children who have been badgering me about how many more days is it until that big event. "How many more sleeps is it, Daddy?" they ask--- You see, around TreeHouse we tell time in "sleeps" ---For the un-informed that is "a go to bed and get up" exercise --- that counts as one sleep. Naps don’t count. At least, not around here.
But then it all got completely out of hand when young Danielle began to share her incredible story about how, just two years ago, that her parents had gone out shopping all around her hometown in order to purchase a van full of Christmas presents so that she and her younger sister could have the opportunity to distribute these gifts to needy children they encountered as their father drove down the busy streets in the Los Angeles area. She said they even had to chase after some of these kids to offer them the presents. Amazing!
As she continued to spin her tale, it was then and there that I decided to excuse myself briefly to wander down the hall to my bedroom and to quietly close the door.
Once safely inside my secret lair I set about to haul out my old Santa suit from the bedroom closet, then shake off the accumulated dust, comb out the beard and hair, rummage through my clothes cupboard drawers to locate my dilapidated old suspenders (I simply have to replace them as they are truly beyond their expiration date) and re-robe myself in my red costume.
Shucks! Our children have surely known that I was the "man in the funny red suit" for many years now, at least around this place since they have found numerous occasions to secret themselves into my bedroom while playing hide and seek. It is there, located within the crevices of that particular closet where I keep my clothes but also my secret stash of crime fighter and super hero costumes and other such necessities of the trade for such occasions as this.
Once I had that magnificent form-fitted old red suit on (no need for padding in my particular case), and had adjusted the beard, hair piece, hat and belt, I knew for sure, that I had the right combination for venturing forth for yet another photo session.
With today's proliferation of digital cameras on the market there is no need to worry about wasting film or time in having the photos developed. With all those bells, and bobs and whistles fitted to each camera it is simply point, focus and press. Only a few minutes needed on the computer after the snaps are made and then a little downloading, resizing, cropping and red eye removal followed by uploading and voila, mission accomplished.
I think you will agree with me that most kids are generally alike, regardless of their ages, genders, colors, creeds, languages spoken, body types, sizes, economic status, national origins or whatever. They like to have their photos taken just like all those high-powered movie stars, songsters, rappers, hip-hop dancers, musicians, sports figures, politicians and other such performers engaged within the public view.
And because I like children, I have raised more than 60 of them here at TOLO and elsewhere and taught many thousands more of them in my lengthy career as a teacher educator of sorts. I am always ready to encourage all of them to remember to smile for the camera.
Smiling only uses 13 muscles, I informed them, while frowning requires a whopping 69! So in order to relax our faces we must smile around here, all the time. After all, isn't Thailand called the Land of Smiles for some very good reasons?
Besides, according to a number of reportedly knowledgeable physicians out there somewhere in cyberspace--it, smiling that is, saves on the wrinkles in later life. Or so I have heard. We shall see soon enough.
Well, now you can judge for yourself whether my Santa impersonation is a worthy one or not. And by the way, it you just happen to be out and about shopping in Buriram's Big C Supermarket sometime between December 15 and that magic day December 24, you might even encounter old Santa himself having his picture taken along with a whole lot of moms, dads, grandma’s, grandpa’s and especially kids. See you there.
Santa will be collecting donations from the photo opportunities in order to buy gifts for approximately 140 needy children from Ban Yoei Sakae Elementary School as well as from the local orphanage.
Can't wait to see the smiles on their faces. Y’all come now, ya hear. Or should I simply say, “Ho! Ho! Ho!”
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