A Man With A Mission

FTLComm - Tisdale - Friday, December 21, 2001

Officially today marks the first day of winter as this is the shortest daylight period for us in the Northern hemisphere. But for the students at Tisdale's Elementary School today is the last day of school before the Christmas break and indeed a time for class parties. The man of the hour is none other than a Mr. S. Claus a resident of the North Pole and one of the busiest guys you will find at this time of the year.

If you have ever been called upon to stand-in as a representative of this extensive franchise you will know that it is one of the most pleasant roles you could ever be asked to fill. When you look over the parameters for the job you immediately realise why this is about as good as it gets.

  1. Primary function is to be happy.

  2. No one cares about you being a little or even a lot overweight.

  3. Everyone, absolutely everyone is happy to see you and everyone is nice to you.

  4. Your main objective is to live out the dreams of children, for while you are in the suit you live in a magical world.

  5. Poor hearing, limited vision and assists

  6. People will tell you what they want, what they really want and most often what they want is within their grasp, oddly enough most requests involve simple presents the big things are dreams and hopes they have for happiness.

  7. You get to laugh, a lot, you get to smile, a lot and good cheer and positive thoughts surround what you are doing.

  8. You can treat everyone the same, from the very young to the very old and all are just as important to you and you to them.

  9. No one expects anything from you then your happiness and good cheer. Your very presence is all they want, total acceptance is yours.

  10. 1You represent the finest of intentions for all people and know that you are upholding a long and honourable profession, respected and appreciated.


I think I was in grade eight the first time I had the job, each of my sons served in the role at some point in their lives and when I see others given the honour of handling the task I know full well that though they will give their time and energy the real value of the experience will be most felt by they themselves as this is something that will affect your whole life.

Ho! Ho! Ho!