The Sunday News
HAVE you ever imagined yourself as a Father or Mother Christmas? Of course we have some who have played this role before in some of our supermarkets during the festive season, smiling the whole day in the Father Christmas costume and taking pictures with kids.
One thing I noticed when I was growing up was that by the end of the day Father Christmas’s smile would be looking a bit ragged from exhaustion – I mean it’s not such a simple task to maintain a smile the whole day, because at some point it requires effort.
Just ask anyone who has ever worked at a public relations desk about this.
Or you can ask the guys who man the desks at the passport office, I don’t know why, but it seems that most of them don’t even have a smile at the beginning of the day to talk about, as if the thought of passports gives them nightmares.
But let me tell you a story kikiki. Once there was this Father Christmas I know who beat everyone in the world in smiling while at work as he did not only smile but laughed the whole day.
But this Father Christmas had a trick behind his laugh. You can guess what it was. Deep in his fluffy red robes, he had a little bottle of gin, isipatalala ngiyakutshela, and every time when people were not looking his way, he would take a quick sip.
This was a brilliant idea so I think, for, after all, it was the festive season, a time of good cheer.
And don’t ask me how I know about this. And no, it wasn’t me, I have never been a Father Christmas, but as I am writing this, I am thinking – why not try it one day and spend a day making families happy?
This sounds like a super idea, and that is why I asked if you have ever imagined you yourself as a Father or Mother Christmas too, heh, long beard and all and now and then breaking into a “ho ho ho” laugh and dishing out presents.
Now here is another good question. We have seen Father Christmas in supermarkets, but why has no one ever thought of putting one at our much loved country bus termini?
Yes, a Father Christmas at Egodini or eRenkini.
I mean, there are plenty of kids who pass through the country bus termini on their way to spend their festive seasons with gogo and khulu in the rural areas, and I am sure some would take pleasure in having their photos taken there with Father Christmas against a backdrop of a heavily loaded chicken bus or scania or something like that.
We know how valuable such kind of pictures are in later years on Facebook when one is now grown up and wants to show that every Christmas they travelled to the countryside.
And if we were to agree that we need a Father Christmas at Renkini, and if you were asked to volunteer for that, what answer would you give?
If it was me it would be an instant YES!
I know some of us are too chicken and are scared of Renkini, thinking that it is teeming with pickpockets, of which we are probably right, as the concentration of them are found there, but wouldn’t it be nice to spend just one day surrounded by them?
Let’s count the advantages of working in a place teeming with pickpockets. For starters, if you are in good books with them, you will be assured that your Father Christmas’ bag will always be full of stolen wallets and cellphones, idulas, which they will be asking you to keep for them, and if you are a clever Father Christmas, do you know what you can do with this loot?
I know most of you will be saying I would call the police. Well, that is a good idea, as we value social responsibility.
But on the other hand, what if you waited for your bag to become full with this loot, and then when no one was looking, you ran away with it to another bus terminus where you would give it to passersby as Christmas presents and pretend to be some Robin Hood?
This is a good idea, please give it a try.
Ich wünsche Ihnen ein frohes Weihnachtsfest. I wish you a merry Xmas.
