Arctic Mark in Stanley Park

Have a Cool Yule, Dudes and Dudettes!

Yes, that is indeed yours truly in the red suit, another first in a year full of firsts. My "reward" for having been away for a week was to be unanimously nominated to play the big jolly dude upon my return. The Holman DEA (District Educational Authority) had their annual Christmas dinner in the school gym on Sat., Dec. 3, and there were a fair number of little ones there, so I had to suit up and distribute presents to them. The suit was a pretty good fit, except of course around the middle. I needed some serious padding around my washboard abs to make a believable Santa, so I grabbed Chip's parka and stuffed it under the jacket. It worked quite well, except I was worried the whole time that it would slip out and fall to the floor, shattering the illusion and traumatizing many a toddler. As it turned out, everything went off without a hitch. Still, I don't see why the real Mr. Clause couldn't have dropped by, since he only lives a hop, skip and a jump from here. (Note the similarity of our postal codes. Mine is X0E 0S0. His is H0H 0H0. Enough said.)