Well it has been a while since I came here and added some information. Following the past week here in Edson, with the murder of a 14 year old girl, who was my Pastor's daughter, I gained some valuable insight into a blog. Pastor Terry has one and it was the focus of attention from around the world as the news of his daughter got out. Last time I looked there were around 400 entries. I know that Pastor and family cherished all the comments left.

So what do I do now with my writings?

The upcoming Christmas season is going well. I have 3 in-store sessions in the Santa chair for about 4 hours each. There is the community hall Christmas Party that I attended last year. There is a seniors lodge tea to attend for 2 hours.

I have at the present 2 corporate children's Christmas parties booked with the possibility of at least 2 more. They just can't get their acts and dates together.

Also booked is a Friday afternoon at the local movie theatre as Santa meets with the children following a Chamber of Commerce sponsored movie and treats. And speaking of the Chamber, yes Santa Edson will be bringing up the rear of the annual Christmas Parade. It's a Chamber function and I volunteered to be their Santa this year, mainly for the exposure, which may help for remaining dates this year but should be good for next year.

That's enough rambling for now. I have infection problems with both of my replaced knees, well skin infections and am working to get that cleared up. I'll update next time.

One thing I'm fighting here is the "competition". Well the local Kinsmen club. They have been providing a Santa especially on Christmas Eve home visits for 36 years, free of charge. Of course some of them also get to sit in on other private functions because of that, again as a Kin function. Some of the businesses I tried to book last year came back with the retort " I'll get a Kinsmen instead". However they are getting older and not as many volunteer to give up their family events to be Santa. So I'll play this one by ear and just do the very best I can wherever I am booked.

It is because of this I have adjusted my professional fees to be basically $50.00 an hour. I know I can always raise it in a year or two but for this year.... The only extra charge I make is the first hour is $75.00 so that I have the extra $25.00 which the local dry cleaner charges to clean my suits. Funny how some people even balk at that fee.

My home vists are also $50 each and usually last up to 1/2 hour. My Christmas Eve price is $75 and that for 15minutes as Santa is very busy that night. I had 2 home visits last year. We'll see what come up this year.

Some things that are positive for this year is the fact that I now have 3 Santa suits, all velvet with faux fur. They are basically the Rubies models but that's good enough for now. Until I get to the point where I can be busy most of the time and get the dollars to warrant it, I'll stay away from a custom suit. I improved the whiskers from the basic Rubies set to a 3-piece Laceys, the 007 model. I have boots, not those cover-ups. I have a belt, not those plastic ones, but not high quality leather yet. Once again...$

That's enough rambling for this time. I'll update more next time around. Right now I'm busy trying to clear up skin infections on both of knees that were replaced this year. It has me worried and I don't want to be. Was looking forward to getting back to my WalMart job, but that may have to wait. It's getting a little tight on the wallet right now.

Til next time.