OK, it's a hokey blog title, but its getting late on a Saturday night.  I was up early this morning to attend a Toastmasters training event (for the 3rd week in a row!), and I didn't get much of a nap during the day.

Just finished reading Believe Again, by Joe Moore.  Very enjoyable Santa Claus story, and plenty of material to allow me to start crafting my own mental image of what the North Pole is like.  It isn't urgent that I define this world view... if I get it roughed out by summer I should be in good shape.  Meanwhile, there's a bunch of other books I'll have to consume as fodder for my imagination.

Tomorrow, I'll be meeting with Ron Campbell and Lou Shelton.  Lou is a Mrs. Claus local to my town that is looking for a Santa to work with, and Ron has recommended that we consider working together.  As a new Santa, this would greatly benefit me, since she has done this for a couple of years, and I have yet to really get my feet wet.  Since all spouses will be along for the meet, it should be an interesting luncheon.

Last week, when I attended the Triangle Santa Buddies meeting, Ron was eager to find ways to help me get up to speed as a new Santa.  He offered to lend me a pair of black boots, but I showed him the black western style boots I was wearing that evening, and he said the would be good enough.  Sure, eventually I'll have to get some better boots, but for now I can save a couple of hundred not  spending money on this.  Instead, today I ordered some fur boot cuffs that use Velcro to attach to the boot tops.  A whole lot less expensive, and I should be able to reuse them with any other standard boots I may get in the future.

This week, I attended the first class of Santa Ed Taylor's on-line training for 2017.  I can't say that I was overwhelmed by all the information... since I'd prepared for the paid class by reviewing the recordings of the last two year's classes.  But information is information.  I'll absorb it all, and combine it with what I learn from my local Santa group(s) to start crafting my own portrayal of St. Nick.

Next on the agenda (after my meeting tomorrow) is getting my beard bleached.  On the recommendation of several other Santas from TSB, I'll be driving up to Highpoint next Thursday afternoon to go to a specific hair saloon for a specific person:  Gary Belo.   Yes, from everything I've heard here and elsewhere, you don't want to mess around with doing your own bleaching, especially at first.  Also, most hair places do not know how to work with beards.  Gary Belo is the expert in North Carolina, or so I have been led to believe.  I should be able to report on the success of my transformation in my next blog post.