Get real santa

By the oddest of circumstances, Jeni saw the same Santa Claus until she was 5, so it was pretty easy to convince her that he was real. Santa's name was actually Jerry and we ran into him once at Walmart then, happy day, he turned out to be a friend of our neighbor's and he did the Santa honors at that neighbor's Christmas party.
He was such a good jolly old elf, in fact, that we saw him the next year at the governor's Christmas party and at the mall. The pattern continued for a couple more years.
We've taken Santa pretty seriously at Chez Collins and Kyle. For several years, Beaux also had one of his coworkers stop by as Santa. Roger'd fling open the door and kind of explode into the house, with a ho ho ho and a gift we'd given him to give the girls.
But the funnest Santa Christmas was the year that one of my coworkers told me he'd just done a story on the Gateway Santa, who said to tell me hi. It was Ed, my dad's old driver. And though I'd only bumped into him once since Daddy died in 1994, I knew Ed would be just the thing to bolster Aly's faith, which was sagging just a tad.
I didn't call ahead. We just showed up. I had told the kids we were going to see a special Santa, one who knew Grandpa (who died before they were born). They were perhaps a little skeptical, but curious.
Ed rocked. As we walked in, he sprang up and called my name. He was happy, as a Santa should be when he recognizes one of the Good Little Girls. I made sure I called my girls by name as we drew near -- Jen, don't forget to tell Santa....
And he launched into great stories of their Grandpa Frank and Grandma Mary. I watched in joy as their faces filled with wonder. The best part was, the fictional Santa made real a grandpa and grandma who had, to that point, been like a mist to the girls.
A couple of years ago, when Truth arrived, Jeni had two questions: How did that guy know grandma and grandpa, because he obviously did. And who the heck "is that guy who kept flinging himself through the front door every year?"
Did we damage them by "lying?" Nope. We gave them joy. And something to laugh about their whole lives.
Merry Christmas.