The One and Only Time I Spoke To Santa

Although I should I do not really remember it like it was yesterday but I am one of the few to have actually spoken to Santa Claus during his travels around the globe. Speaking to Santa Claus should be a life changing moment but I was only six so give me a break.

The year was 1975 and I was an impressionable first grader. We lived on a farm at that time. It was the type of structure that had difficulty keeping the cold out and you had to leave the oven door open to keep your teeth from chattering.  I have five brothers and sisters and out of necessity and very literally my bedroom was a closet.  I suppose you think I am going to tell you that we were destitute and all I got for Christmas was a Whatchamacallit candy bar. Well I am not going to tell you this for a couple of reasons, we were not destitute, although money was tight, and more importantly Whatchamacallits were not introduced until 1978.
If you are fortunate to remember the mid-70's you might remember that everyone and their brother had a CB radio in their car or truck. The CB was the precursor to the car phone but you had to talk in your own really cool language. Not only that but you had to have your own handle. Handle was just another word for nickname in that really cool language. My handle was the Lone Ranger. Yes, that is how cool I was. I may have changed it later on to Fonzie which was equally cool.

We were one of the few that had a CB unit in the house. Why exactly I do not really know. Well unbeknownst to me, my brothers had gone up to the bedroom where that particular CB was located in an effort to get in touch with the elusive Santa Claus. Apparently he used it to check the weather condition and every once in a while he would call to see what time it was.

Shortly after they went to the room they came back with the news that they had in fact gotten in touch with Santa. How amazing is that? I rushed up and actually got to speak with Santa. He was busy and did not have much time to talk but he assured me that he was on the way and he would be there shortly so I had better get to sleep. Well, it was off to bed for me whether my parents liked it or not.

Before I went to bed one of my brothers pointed out the window at a red light in the sky. I thought it looked like the lights from an airplane but they swore it was Rudolph. I reasoned that one scenario was just as likely as the other so I went with the idea that it was Rudolph. After all they were my brothers and much smarter than I was and they would never lie to me. Of course that was before I found out that every time they said they were going to the library they were actually going to the Dairy Queen.

What a Christmas that was. I do not remember what I had waiting for me under that Christmas tree but I do have that memory.  Perhaps that was the best gift of all. 

That would be the first and last time that I ever spoke to Santa. Of course the CB craze was soon over. He probably uses an Iphone now and surely his number is not available to every Tom, Dick, and Harry or in my case every Bill, Kevin and Mike.

Merry Christmas and 10-4 good buddy.