"The Santa Suit In The Attic" - By Jim DeBellis (Exclusive to Santa.CC)

I opened the large white plastic bag inside a big cardboard box in the corner, and looked inside.  There it was, folded neatly and still looking festive and new: Dad’s Santa suit.  It was a deep but bright red velvet with furry white trim around the collar, down the front, and around all of the edges.  More white trim marked the top of the huge pocket visible right on top, and I could see one of the oversized black buttons too.  The memories came flooding back.

Mom and Dad were getting a bit older now, so I had stopped by this evening after dinner to help them get their Christmas decorations down from the attic.  My wife and mother were already putting the lights and ornaments on the tree from the first boxes we brought down, and my 6-year old son, Jake, and I went back up to look for the garlands to wrap around the tree, the star for the top, and the Christmas stockings.  That’s when I spotted the Santa suit.

Jake was still a big fan of Santa Claus, and he wondered why Santa had left his suit in Grandpa’s attic.  I explained it to him.  Santa has his real suit with him at the North Pole, but this was a pretend Santa suit that Grandpa used to wear to have fun when I was still a kid.  In fact, he used to wear it every year when we decorated the tree.

I pulled out the jacket and held it up in front of me, which made Jake laugh a little bit.  Then I slipped it on.  I grabbed the wide black belt, which had been underneath the jacket, and Jake took out the beard and the red and white Santa hat.  Just the big red pants were left in the bag.  I wrapped the belt around me and put the beard and cap on Jake, and then we sat down on the floor.

I told Jake about the first time I saw my dad in the Santa suit.  I was only 4 or 5 years old.  I came in the house, very cold from building a snow fort, and there he was.  I thought it was really Santa Claus.  Christmas music was playing, and Mom was decorating the tree with Santa.  They were kind of dancing around to the music as they put the decorations on the tree, and then Santa and Mom started kissing!  I ran over and tugged on the pocket of the Santa suit and yelled at Santa to stop kissing my mommy.  Then Dad leaned over and pulled the beard down and said, “It’s me son!”  We all laughed and had a big hug.

Jake laughed now too and pulled on the same pocket of the Santa suit that I had pulled on all those years ago.  There was still a little rip at the edge of the pocket that I had made when I was a young child.  I slid my hand into the pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper.  I was curious.  When I opened it, I saw a Christmas list in my Dad’s handwriting.  It said “Christmas 1984” at the top, so I would have been the same age that my Jake is now.  The first thing on the list was the Star Wars trilogy, which is something that gave the whole family hours of entertainment and a lifetime of great memories.  The ruby bracelet on the list was surely the one that Mom still wears everyday and that she loves so much.

Jake lugged over one of the big black Santa boots that was next to the box.  That reminded me of the time that my Grandma and Grandpa came to our house for a whole week over the Christmas holiday.  Mom and Dad gave their bed to Mom’s parents, and so they slept on the living room floor in front of the fireplace.  On Christmas morning Dad proudly showed us all the big boot print on his white T-shirt that Santa must have made after he came down the chimney.  He got ashes on his boot and stepped right on Dad’s chest.  It really made Christmas extra special that year, to see such a real sign that Santa had been there.

We could hear my wife calling us from downstairs, so I slipped into the pants and boots, got the beard and cap from Jake, grabbed the last box of decorations, and made my way downstairs in the full Santa suit with some jolly “ho, ho, ho’s” to start off another memorable Christmas season.

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