It was Santa Claus. Neither his given name, George Fischbach, nor his middle age fooled the amused surgeon.
“The pain hit me out of the blue. Stopped me cold,” the Bradenton native said. “I thought I was invincible. I didn’t see any sugarplums or fairies dancing around, either. It was sheer fright.”
Santa scared for his life?
All the kids who have sat on his lap over the years would never believe that.
That dire thought crossed Peterson’s mind during the Dec. 14 procedure.
Time was of the essence.
“The pressure was on,” the surgeon said. “Do you want to be the doctor who didn’t have Santa Claus survive his surgery right before Christmas? I don’t think so.”
I always kinda figured Santa’s real name was Fischbach. You go, Santa!
One of my greatest joys in life is being Santa Clause every year. My wife works with young children and first time parents and has a party for their clients every Christmas. Because I’m married to the supervisor, I get to be Santa. Then I spend one afternoon at the library, again making little children smile with memories. Nothing in the world can compare with the awe struck toddler seeing Santa up close for the first time. Although half will scream in fright, the other half are eager to tell Santa in person of what they wish for this year.
This year I had two extreme disappointments. The first was when my six yr old figured out that it was really me. We have pictures from just two years ago of her getting in between when her mother kissed Santa. Now came the lies about Santa being too busy and asked me to take his place. That might work one more year.
The second disappointment came when an older child, maybe eight or nine, came to see me at the library. She had walked across town to just to see me to make this wish. She told me that the only thing she wanted for Christmas was to see her mother. I garnered that she and her older brother lived with her grandparents and another sister lived with the mother in another state, at least several hundred miles away. I later made a small effort to personally follow up but due to confidentiality rules, I couldn’t. I was encouraged not to do anything by Children’s Services because the ramifications could very well outweigh any success. Somehow, I hope this young lady gets what she asked for.