11/24/08 Santa Is Coming To Sedona Green

OK, I’ve almost finished decorating the store for Christmas. It’s a small store. Bedecking the rails and rafters with wreaths and bulbs really shouldn’t have taken a week, but … I like to take coffee breaks.

NEWS: Santa Clause Is Coming To Uptown Sedona

Bkg: Late last week, my friend, Buffalo Don, mentioned to me that when he was a young man, he used to dress up as Santa Clause during the Christmas season to bring in additional customers and publicity at his grocery stores. He suggested that I try that, and added, “You’re a jolly fellow, I think you’d make a great Santa.” I liked the idea -- I’ll try (most) anything once -- and I was prepared to serve Santa duty when another local friend, Joel M. Andre, volunteered to do the job for me. Great. That frees me up to man the camera for anyone who wants a photo taken with Santa. Plus, I won’t have to wear an itchy, fake beard. Hey, Joel volunteered! (Thanks Joel!) I think Joel will enjoy it. He’s a young, horror writer with a half dozen novels under his belt, one entitled “Death at The North Pole,” so Joel dressing as Santa will be one of those wonderful ironies life allows.
Anyway here’s the press release details:

Santa Clause Is Coming To Sedona Green Gallery & Gifts in Uptown, Sedona. Friday, Nov. 28th through Wednesday, Dec. 3rd, Noon to 4PM each day, Santa will be at Sedona Green Gallery to hear your Christmas wishes and to pose for photos. Photos may be taken FREE OF CHARGE with your own camera, or Santa’s happy elves will photograph and print your picture with Santa for $5. Additionally, employees at Sedona Green Gallery (with some help from elves) have constructed a seven-foot tall paper Mache snowman which will also make great backdrop for Sedona Holiday photos of the kids.

Sedona Green Gallery & Gifts specializes in arts and crafts made in Sedona by new and emerging artists, and is located at 273 N. Hwy 89A, Suite P, in the Sedona Uptown Mall, directly above Christmas In Sedona. For more information, you may call store manager, … [etc., etc.]

Oh, about that giant paper Mache snowman: He’s not totally built yet. Actually, at this writing, he consists of three enormous balls of newsprint sitting on my kitchen floor. But he will be complete in time for Black Friday … unless something more pressing comes up … which does occasionally happen. The house elf might help if I promise to let him hide a shoe inside the snowman's head.

Other goings-on: The big event in Sedona last week was a small plane crash. The plane went down just minutes after refueling at the Sedona Airport; crashed in a difficult to access wilderness area off Schnebly Hill Road. Two men were killed, one survived. A New York firefighter vacationing here in Sedona was driving a jeep along Schnebly Hill Road when the plane went down, and he was the first rescuer on the scene --likely saved the pilot’s life. Gotta truly admire folks like that firefighter!

Remember a few weeks back when I mentioned on this blog that estate sales and yard sales were very popular in Northern Arizona. Well, this past week, two people I know held yard sales, and I took an opportunity to visit both. Wow. I had no idea these events were so competitive! On my way to one friend’s sale, I passed five other yard sales in the same neighborhood, all with brightly painted signs urging me off-track from my friend’s sale. Maybe that’s a symptom of Sedona’s current economy. Hummmmmmm.

Holiday card time. Not sure if I’ll send out cards this year. I haven’t designed a card yet, but I need to get on that very quickly if I’m going to do it. Actually, let’s be realistic. Yeah … it’s not going to happen. Sorry. Hopefully next year.

OK, much prep to do and little time. Blog more at you soon.