By USN Columnist Morgan Philpot / Dec 7, 2020

As a young boy I LOVED Christmas. I looked forward to December and the Rankin/Bass stop-motion Christmas specials. My favorite was, and still is, ‘Santa Claus is Comin to Town.’

We were not well-off and from the age of nine I was always doing some form of work to make a little money to pay for the extras (like new Levi’s 501 jeans – they were about $13 back then). During Christmas, Santa always took care of us Philpot kids and it was wonderful.

On Christmas-eve we would go to Grandma Philpot’s house for dinner and presents. She loved Christmas too. Grandma was a kind, sweet-tea makin, grandkid spoilin’ southern woman, and a devoted attendee at the local Assembly of God congregation. She was always there for us, and she always had a glass-bottle of Pepsi (she called it ‘sody pop’) on hand for us sugar-starved young kids. In addition to making one of the most delicious dinners of the year, Grandma would box and wrap our presents in the rectangular department-store gift boxes. Our gift was pretty much the same thing each year; a pair of pants, a shirt, socks/underwear, and some form of old spice or deodorant – because what young boy didn’t wear old spice to school?

Out of my deep and youthful love for Christmas, grew an ambitious life-goal; to chart an expedition to the North Pole, to find and visit Santa’s Workshop, and discover the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel. I was certain they were living in close proximity to each other.

I am sworn to secrecy about whether or not I accomplished the mission but I have told my children that some day I will be taking over as the real Santa Claus.

Little did I realize that my destiny as Santa would come in a time when the condition of our state would be eerily similar to that of Sombertown under the reign of the Burgermeister Meisterburger.

This is the greatest time to be alive!

#givethanks #tistheseason #ChristLives #and_so_does_Santa! #Burgermeister‘s never win.

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