Slim Santa in Monrovia

Here's wishing you a Merry Giftmas this year! It's funny how around this time it seems like I see will see men who look like "Santa" everywhere: Walking down alleyways, shopping in Trader Joe's, and lately, ringing a bell in a red suit. Men with naturally fabulous white beards suddenly achieve a certain cachet at holiday time. And if they have a bit of a belly, suddenly they seem like the real Santa trying to avoid the limelight. I sense that they know what I am thinking as they scurry past me in regular clothes, trying to fit in with the rest of us, maybe not be noticed, and making only the obligatory but brief nod. They have a guilty pleasure in knowing that they suddenly can have bestowed upon them in abundance attributes that normally they may only harbor in meager quantity. Does looking like St. Nick make you feel more jolly, generous and benevolent? Will this expectation create the result? Do children run up to you with their Christmas lists and plates of cookies to bribe you? And so, this begs the question, why did you grow out such a fantastic white beard in the first place, if not to impress the eager populus at least once a year?