I'm getting old.

Yes, I know it's almost a prerequisite of portraying a convincing Santa Claus, but it has disadvantages.

As I type this blog post, I sit at my computer with aching feet and sore back.  The last few hours have been spent climbing up and down stairs, taking measurements, and cutting laminate flooring to fit that last little bit of a floor project I've been working on, only to find when I return upstairs that I cut the wrong end of the board as often as not.  My fit bit tells me I've climbed 15 flights of stairs so far, and I did a similar amount yesterday.  Not quite done yet...  I still have a strip about 3" wide and 7 or 8 feet long that includes a door opening.  Should get it done after a short rest, and that's it for today!  The baseboards can wait a weekend or two!

A few weeks ago, my wife finally concluded that we needed to go on a diet.  She decided on one of the low carb diets, which I had dabbled with before, but couldn't follow through on because she was a fan of Spagghetti, and similar foods.  Now, with her buy in we've managed to stick to the plan (as much as I like spuds, rice, bread, and pasta too!), and I'm down 12 or 14 pounds so far.  Since there's no reason to expect that this trend won't continue, I broke down and ordered a slightly smaller belt (I noticed the last one was on it's last notch already, and a little loose).

What else has been happening?  Ordered a Santa bag from HALCO.  Nice material, if plain.  I've got it into an embroidery shop right now to have it decorated, and I bought one of Eileen's Santa name tags (thanks Eileen!).  Along with all the other gear I've been accumulating, or making, I should be good to go when the season rolls around.

Yes, it's my first season (outside of sitting as SC for my HOA last year).  But it's looking promising.  My partner, Lou Shelton, and I have already arranged for 8 gigs, which in the grand scheme of things isn't that many, but I figure that this year is pure learning.  I've been studying the subject with Steve Gillham and his group, and Ron Campbell has been advising several of us new Santa's.  I figure that it pays to listen to old pros like that.

So yes, I'm getting old.  However, when I look at some of the great Santa Claus's that I have as role models, maybe that isn't such a bad thing.