I'll show you Christmas spirit

So, I got the opportunity to be all Christmassy lately, and it was tons of fun.


A couple of weeks ago, one of those desperate e-mails shot out on the Gresham Police Department server, begging one of the officers, any of the officers, to volunteer to be Jolly Ol' St. Nick at the annual Christmas party.

Responsibilities:

1. Hand out gifts
2. Take pictures with kids
3. Be jolly

No one responded. This could be for several reasons. First, officers who go to these things are usually ones that have kids, and how would they have any fun with their kids if they were stuck being Santa to everyone else's? Second, officers who couldn't come to this thing were probably unable because they were working. And, finally, the notice came out kinda late.

I don't fall into any of the first two categories. As of now, my wife and I are still comfortably in the D.I.N.K. (dual-income, no kids) category, and I was safely off of work after 5pm. And, as the assigned DA out there, I've grown to appreciate the hard work the officers do. So, I put my name out as an alternative if noone else became available. Of course, once you do that, you may as well just say "sign me up," and sure enough an hour later an extremely grateful GPD staffer came into my office, all excited and overwhelmed that I'd actually do the Santa thing. Apparently, lawyers are supposed to be more Grinch than merry old elf.

Anyway, last night was the night of my big show, and so I spent a couple hours greeting children, giving gifts out, taking pictures, and getting a ton of hugs while giving out tons of "Ho Ho Ho's". It was honestly alot of fun.

I spent last night and today getting all sorts of grateful acknowledgements from people and hearing how wonderful I was, just because I saw a need and stepped in, and had a great time doing it. I was reminded how rewarding doing the right thing is, just because it makes you feel good. I didn't do anything special; I just did something good.

Anyway, if you ever get to play Santa, take the opportunity and run with it. A happy kid is a great thing, and you never know who'll be blessed because you took a little time out to help.

Catch ya later.