“Aye, There’s the Rub!”

During the Christmas season, my wife and I volunteered with an organization called “Elf Louise”.  http://www.elflouise.com/main.php   
Here is a Cliff Notes version of it’s history: The Elf Louise Christmas Project is dedicated to providing a little bit of joy to Bexar County’s less fortunate children. Get into the spirit of Christmas! Join Elf Louise volunteers in spreading joy throughout San Antonio! In 2006, more than 4,500 Elf Louise volunteers wrapped and delivered presents to 21,000 children in 5,500 families! The project began in 1969 when it’s founder, Louise Locker, was a student at Trinity University in San Antonio. She found that for many San Antonio families, Christmas just did not exist. Louise began to look for a way to provide a few Christmas presents to some of these children. That first year, with the help of a friend, she collected gifts for children in 13 families. The Elf Louise Christmas Project is a 501 (C)(3) Non-profit organization staffed by all volunteers and funded by donation. 98 cents of each dollar donated goes directly to the purchase of toys, approximately 2% is used for telephone, postage, and insurance expenses.

Along with donating toys and time sorting toys in the warehouse, the highlight for me on those winters of 1984-1987 was actually BEING Santa Claus. Yup, I got to be the big guy!

I got to wear the Santa Claus suit while my lovely elf of a wife was my chauffer. I also had another volunteer in the car to keep the bags of toys organized. I remember when we would be stopped at a red light or stop sign and a car would pull up next to us, look over, then the adults in the front seat would smile, lean back and say something towards the back seat and then all of the sudden small heads would pop up, see my Santa-clad self and start smiling and waving. As much fun as that was, it was nothing compared to seeing the suprise on kids faces when I would show with a bag of toys in hand for a family who was having hard times. If not for Elf Louise, there would be a lot of kids in Bexar County and San Antonio who would not have much of a Christmas. It’s a pretty cool feeling.

Seeing those kids made me see myself when I was a little, little kid. Even when my mom was a single parent and money was tight, somehow, we always got what we wanted for Christmas. Heck, we got MORE than I would have even dared to ask of Santa.