Set Creepy Santa Free

Dog walks in December are best taken at night.  The path is illuminated by the twinkling holiday lights throughout the neighborhoods.  Some houses go classic, with tiny yellow-ish white lights on trees and roofline.  Others splash color everywhere like Fourth of July fireworks.  A few choose flashing lights and blow-up animated figures to adorn their lawn.

My daughter and I try to see as many displays as we can within walking distance, taking a slightly different route each time.  The dog doesn't seem to care as long as she gets to sniff and tinkle along the way.  Sometimes we argue over which lights are the most cheerful.  I prefer the classic warm incandescent color over the colder LED bulbs, and I generally don't enjoy animation.  She likes displays that use colors in interesting ways, particularly the deep purply-blue LED lights.

One thing we do agree on is the "Creepy Santa" on the end of the block.  Modeled after mannequins in an old fashioned department store display window, this Santa is real enough to catch your eye, but once you look he sends a shiver down your spine.  His face is plastic and peachy, a little too peachy, with rosy pink paint on his cheeks and the tip of his nose.  His white curly hair dangles in an unnatural way from beneath is red hat.  His mechanical, well dressed frame sits upon a throne on the lawn as he slowly turns his head from side to side, waving a rigid arm at passers-by.  Over and over  he looks our way with fluid movement until the slight jerk and tremor when his head and arm stop and reverse direction.

Well...now it is January.  The Holiday Season has ended and my daughter is back in her dorm at college.  My dog and I walk alone.  There are a few light displays still twinkling to light the way.  Some houses even have lit trees showcased in their living room windows while a few have the dark silhouette of an decorated evergreen with the lights unplugged - the family not ready to admit the holiday is over, or just too busy to undo Christmas yet.

And then there is our friend, Creepy Santa, who hasn't returned to his home at the North Pole.  The lights on his host's house still flash in a festive frenzy.  Of his two inflatable friends, The Grinch is still full of hot air, but his snowman companion lays limp and lifeless on the lawn.  Santa himself appears to have taken the brunt of our recent wind storms.  His throne has tipped forward.  If it weren't for the fence the red elf would be face first in the mud.  Instead his peachy neck is caught in the crook of the fence.  Santa is pitched far forward with stringy white curls obscuring his rosy cheeks, hat flung forward with the white pom-pom covering one twinkling eye.  He has been this way for several days.

I am rather relieved that I can't see the expression in his eyes anymore.  I imagine that they would be full of panic because our fat, red hero seems to be caught in a guillotine.    No longer moving, he has stopped trying to wriggle free and silently awaits his fate.  The only thing missing is the blindfold.  I'm sure that all of the children in the neighborhood would feel better if the neighbor who lives in that house would rescue our Dear Santa before he loses his head.  

as seen this morning (Jan. 6)

Until then our long winters nap will be tainted with visions of red and white tragedy dancing in our heads.  Please, neighbor, we want nothing to dread.  I wish for a Happy January to All, and to All a GOOD NIGHT!