Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town

This posting describes a rural central Pennsylvania Christmas tradition.

We heard sirens in the morning, and presumed it was somebody having an emergency. But when the sirens continued off and on for hours, I checked our local neighbors' Facebook group. Which is where all the COOL local news comes from. You know, whose pig is on the lam right now, the latest baby llama at the local llama farm. All the IMPORTANT stuff.

As it turns out, the sirens were signifying the annual Santa Run, which, like the July 4th Tractor Parade, is a favorite local tradition. On a Saturday before Christmas, the Port Matilda EMS folks parade all around our area with several vehicles, and sirens, and music, and with Santa Claus and the Grinch riding shotgun!

Well, they didn't get to our street for a while. And then I ran out with my camera, only to photograph them turning their vehicles around a few driveways down, and going back the other way. I staked out my position in our yard, and when the sirens became closer around 2 p.m., I was ready!

I got a couple of great (LOUD) videos of the vehicles and Santa. (The Grinch was inside the truck at this point.) And I snapped a few photos, because I knew one of them would be my picture for the day. Here is my best shot, with Santa on the fire truck, waving. Merry Christmas! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Of course, I had to do my civic duty and post the photos and videos to the very same Facebook group. I immediately got some likes and some comments. One nice lady asked if she had my permission to save and print this photo for her dad, who, as it turns out, IS SANTA CLAUS!!!! Well, yep, absolutely, my dear, and that's a no-brainer YES! And please tell Santa thank you from all of us Smith Road peeps!

So here is my best shot for the day, of Santa waving to me, and wishing us all a Merry Christmas!  Our song for this blip has to be Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, with Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town. I bet this is finally the year that Clarence gets that new saxophone!

P.S.#1. A successful tail reattachment surgery was recently performed on one of the red Crittergators. It's the one that's already lost an antenna. I didn't realize the tail was needed for balance, until I noticed the tail was gone and the Crittergator could no longer stand up. In one of our recent photo shoots, he apparently ended up on the floor, and that's where the tail got broken. I found the tail and glued it back on. The Crittergator spent several hours recuperating in the Head Splort Recovery Ward, and now he can walk and stand and pose for photos again. Hooray! The surgery was a success!

P.S. #2. In other, less positive, news, one tiny red and black stripey hat was LOST in the Scotia Barrens on this morning. Whose fault was it? Well, the last one to WEAR the hat was the Moose (aka Mossy Paws). But it was T. Tiger's hat. And *I* was the actual human supervising the whole photo shoot/production. Oh, how we gnashed our teeth when we got home and discovered it was gone. I had taken the Moose and Tiger out of my sack and posed them by my favorite pond for pictures. Then I put them into my sack, and tucked my jacket into the sack on top of them. After my hike through the Barrens, when I got back to my bike which was hidden among the evergreens, I pulled my jacket out of my sack. So where is the HAT!? It is most likely in one of two places in the Barrens: either by my pond, or by where I parked my bike under the evergreens. WILL WE FIND THE LOST HAT? Tune in tomorrow to find out the latest!