Rant #1,341: Santa Claus Came To Town

Guess what this Jewish guy did with his son this weekend?

I did what any Jew would have done ... Santa Claus was in town, and I took my son to meet old St. Nick himself.

In something I hadn't done since my kids were very little, I took my 19-year-old son to see Santa Claus, but there was a method to my madness.

St. Nick, in this case at least, was WWE wrestling legend Mick Foley, and the North Pole was our local record store.

Foley was there to promote his "Crazy Christmas" holiday book and record--yes, a 45 rpm record--so we and about 50 others decided that this presented the perfect opportunity to meet the hardcore wrestling legend in the flesh--with his Santa outfit on--so we leaped at the chance.

What's more, all proceeds went to charity, so it was a really worthwhile cause.

Foley came into the store as the line of people wanting to meet him grew. He took out the book--with a story written by his son, ostensibly about saving Christmas--and like any good Santa who is also a world renown wrestling personality, he also took out his teeth as he started to read.

Anyway, when he was finished with his storytelling chores, we all got to meet Santa Foley, get his autograph and take pictures with him.

It was fun, harkening back to other times I took my kids to meet Santa.

One time that I remember is when my daughter must have been about four or five years old.

She sat on Santa's lap in our local bank, and Santa said, "And what would this pretty young girl want for Christmas?"

My daughter replied, "Santa, I happen to be Jewish, and we don't celebrate Christmas, we celebrate Hanukkah--and here is what I want!"

You never saw Santa so dumbfounded in his life, and although I told my daughter to tone it down a bit, inwardly, I was kind of proud of her.

Not to blame Santa though-=-how was he to know that he had such a "rebel" sitting right on his lap?

Anyway, back to the present.

My son and I had a nice time, and afterward, we did what many Jewish families do throughout the year--we ordered Chinese takeout, brought it home, and had a nice meal with my wife.

The whole encounter with Santa was a good appetizer for our main event, the first night of Hanukkah, which begins tomorrow evening at sundown.

It should be fun!