Aswe get closer,Hammysays, “Hi, everyone,” and the couple whose backs are to us turn around, and their faces light up in recognition.
“Hammy!” the woman says as she hugs him. “I’mso glad you could come!”She’sprobably in her mid-twenties and has wavy brown hair.
“Iwouldn’t miss this event for anything,”Hammysays.Thenhe introduces me to the woman,Mackenzie, who was his physical therapy tech.Herfiancé,Jace, is at her side, the beefy man isJace’sbrother,Ledger, the athletic blonde is his girlfriend,Zoe, who apparently is meetingHammyfor the first time, and the woman my age isEvelyn.She’sthe matriarch.
Morejoin us, includingCharlie, andI’mintroduced to three more brothers—Emerson,Blake, andMiles—and a toddler namedHeidi.They’rea lovely family.Ican see whyHammyis so fond of them.
Butexcept forCharlie, as each of the others neared, they seemed to initially not recognizeHammy.Yetas they interact, it’s obvious that they all know him very well.Idon’t know what to think about it.
I’mnot the only one new to this activity—Zoeis, too—soEvelynexplains the rules.We’llpair up with each other to find a child to buy a gift for.Wecan’t communicate with the child or their family, so we have to see what draws their attention before buying their gift.Thenwe wrap it and deliver it to them in a way that makes them believe they got it fromSanta.
“Givingthe gift can be as simple as leaving it in the child’s path with their name on it,”Evelynsays, “or it can be as elaborate as you like.Aslong as it happens within the borders of the park and you make it back here before time’s up.”
Milessighs. “Imiss the good ole days when we could deliver it to the child’s home.”
“Idon’t miss my broken leg,”Emersonsays.
“You’vegot to admit, though,”Jacesays, “that those ‘reindeer hoof’ prints we left in the snow on their roof were pretty awesome.”
Emersonnods. “Butthe body print of me sliding off the roof and onto their inflatableSantahat-wearing penguin wasn’t.”
“Oh!”Ledgersays. “Rememberthat catapult we used once to send the gift right to the kid’s front door?”
Severalof theLancastersiblings look upward, wistfully.
NotBlake, though.Hesays, “Ifonly it hadn’t terrified the homeowners.”
Ledgershakes his head. “Onlyfor a second.Oncethey saw the gift, they knew they weren’t under attack.”
“Ittook more than a second for the bomb squad to verify that the gift was not, in fact, an explosive.”
Hammyleans in close. “Wedidn’t always have a time or location limit.Thingsgot a little too…creative and had to be reined in a bit.”
Ichuckle. “Ican see that.”
“Oh,”Emersonsays, “butAbe—Hammy’sdrone that you two altered to look likeSanta’ssleigh—you’ve got to admit that was pretty great.”
Hammygrins atCharlie. “Ifonly the gift had fallen into the child’s waiting arms as we’d planned.”
“Yeah,”Charliesays, “we should’ve chosen a less-breakable gift.”
I’mnot entirely sure what to think of all this, butIdo love the excitement in the air.Ilean intoHammy. “Arethings always this thrilling around you?”
“Nah—sometimesIlike staying home for cocoa cookie nights.”
Okay, that sounds pretty great, too.
“Arewe going to stand around all night, reminiscing,”Evelynasks, “or are we going to go beSecretSantas?We’vegot seventy-five minutes, starting…Now.”
Everyonelooks at their watches simultaneously.Then, as we head away in pairs,Hammycalls back to the group, “Goodluck, have fun, don’t die!”
Igrab his arm. “Wait.Everyonedoesn’t still get super crazy with it, do they?”
Hammylooks at me, confused. “Oh, because of the ‘don’t die’?That’sjust somethingIstarted saying as a kid whenever my dad left on some crazy adventure.Itstill reminds me of him every timeIsay it.”
Ismile.Okay, that’s really sweet, actually. “Shouldwe go toSanta’sWorkshopor village to find a child?”
Hammyshakes his head. “That’swhatJaceandIthought the first time we did this, back when he was little and we were paired up.Wefound lots of kids, sure, but where we really get clues about what they want is in the holiday market.”
