Santa Hat

I had some last-minute things to check off my list yesterday, and so spent half the day here and there around town.  Before leaving I put on a Santa Hat, the traditional red hat, furry white trim, ball on top, and kept it on during my errands.  What became apparent to me throughout the morning was that the hat influenced how I acted during the day.  I mean, who wants someone thinking about them —  “That guy in the Santa hat is a real asshole?”  As I wound my way through the crowded grocery store with my cart, I was less hurried, more inclined to let people by.  Looking for a parking space I was more willing to let folks turn in front of me, even if we were competing for that parking spot.  I was humming Christmas songs most of the morning.  (Okay, nothing really different there, I do that all year.)  Something akin to Frosty’s silk hat, there was a transformation.

It was, of course, not the hat.  Nor was it Christmas.  It iwas/s a state of mind, and I can, if I choose, have it all the rest of the year without people wondering “Why is that guy wearing a Santa hat in July?”  There is of course no original thought here.  This thought is in fact much older than the May of 1957 date on this passage from Dr. Seuss, but this passage is what came to mind.

“But this sound wasn’t sad!
Why, this sound sounded glad!
Every Who down in Whoville, the tall and the small,
Was singing without any presents at all!
He hadn’t stopped Christmas from coming! It came!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!
And the Grinch, with his Grinch feet ice-cold in the snow,
Stood puzzling and puzzling. “How could it be so?
It came without ribbons! It came without tags!
It came without packages, boxes, or bags!”
He puzzled and puzzled till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before.
Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store.
Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more!”

Here’s to the “little bit more.”  Merry Christmas – always.