TELL THEM YOU'RE SANTA!

You know, I realized I'm an anachronism. Here I am, walking down the street, an old gray bearded man with a pipe hanging out of his mouth. A little boy stares at me and asks," What's that in your mouth?" Taken aback, I hesitate, and then say, "It's a pipe." "What's it for?" comes the reply. "Well," I say," do you know the story The Night Before Christmas?" "Yeah" "Do you remember when the story teller talks about the the little elf with a stub of a pipe in his mouth and the "Smoke encircled his head like a wreath"? "Yeah". "Well, that was me." He stared at me, wide eyed, and then his eyes narrowed and he said. "Go on, you're not Santa." I replied, "Do you see anyone else smoking a pipe?"

And that's the way it is. Not many pipe smokers around nowadays. (Except for us old Santas, that is.)