Ramona
By JESSICA GILBERT
Ramona correspondent
(785) 965-2621
Dec. 17-22
The recent snowstorm kept Ramona folks snug in their homes, but that didn't stop Santa from coming into Ramona Dec. 17 to visit all the kids in town. When Santa arrived in town he abandoned his sleigh and hopped on board a red fire engine belonging to the Ramona Fire Department, which transported him to every home in Ramona where children resided.
It was an impressive entourage beginning with the fire engine, commandeered by Max Morgan, with lights flashing, and carrying Santa, followed by the Humvee driven by Alan Bentz, and then Santa's elves — Connie and Dan Smith and Paul Jones — in Connie's truck at the end of the little parade. It was quite a site in the darkness of winter, with snowflakes still flying and red lights sparkling atop the fire vehicles.
Santa's first stop was the Shepards' house on B Street. Lance and Jennifer are relatively new residents in Ramona having arrived with their four children during the past year. The family was just having dinner when the fire trucks pulled up with red lights whirling. Within seconds the kiddies were at the window that was clouded with mist from the warmth of the house. Three little noses were pressed against the glass wondering about all the commotion outside their house.
Within seconds the exclamation was heard, "It's Santa!" and the front door opened to welcome Santa inside. Thomas 5, Adelita 3, and Josie 2, gathered around Santa to receive a special bag of goodies. Quinton, 7 months, wasn't so sure he wanted to get close to the "big fella in red," so he watched from the safety of his parent's arms.
But bags of goodies coaxed even the most reluctant child to approach Jolly Ol' St. Nick. Each bag held old-fashioned things like fruit and peanuts and then modern toys and trinkets like activity books and colors, a Christmas mug, Nerf footballs, little games, and puzzles.
When Santa stopped at 3-year-old Aaron Nelson's house on D Street, Aaron wasn't at all shy about telling Santa what he wanted for Christmas. "I want presents!" he exclaimed.
When I saw Aaron a few days later I asked him about Santa's visit. "Did you open your present from Santa?" I asked. "Oh no," Aaron replied with seriousness and a somewhat scolding look on his face, as though I should know better. "On Christmas," he said, and I knew that meant he was waiting until Christmas morning to see what Santa brought.
"Aaron wanted to see the fire truck that brought Santa to his door," said Connie Smith, Santa's right-hand elf. "So he ran into his bedroom, put socks on his bare feet, so he could go out on the porch and watch Santa go to the fire engine."
The inspiration behind Santa's second visit to Ramona (he was here the weekend before for the Festival of Lights event) was Connie Smith's. She remembered about an incident eight or nine years ago when an angel tree event scheduled at the senior center for all the kids in town had low attendance because an ice storm hit.
"We ended up having the Ramona Fire Department take Santa from house to house delivering the gifts to the kids who couldn't come. That stuck in my mind, and since we don't do the angel tree these days, I thought it would be fun to do this instead as our little gift to the community," said Connie.
As the idea grew in Connie's imagination she talked with her husband Dan, and then to their friend Collin Bailey about impersonating Santa. "We couldn't plan too much ahead because both Dan and Collin are in the trucking industry so I had to wait until both of them were home from the road," continued Connie.
Finally a weekend arrived when both her husband and Collin were in Ramona — Dec. 17. That morning Alan Bentz, Ramona Fire Chief, stopped by the Smith home hunting for Collin, who was there having a cup of coffee. "We've got something for you to do tonight," said Connie to Alan. "Does it involve wearing tights?" Alan queried. Connie assured him that he wasn't required to wear tights to chauffeur Santa.
So around 7:30 p.m. on a snowy Saturday night Santa began bellowing his "Ho, Ho, Ho" up and down the streets of Ramona as he stopped at every home holding children. He even stopped at the Hares' home — they have their grandchildren with them quite often. Robert and Deb had just gotten the kids to bed when Santa pulled up, but the kids didn't mind the interruption to their sleep at all.
"So what prompted you to create this delightful experience for Ramona's kids?" I asked Connie. "I was raised that giving was better than receiving and this is a giving time of year," said Connie. "And I wanted to do something for the Ramona kids that would be a great memory. My mom taught me that memories outlive any gift you can give," and then I hear tears come into Connie's voice. "This is the first Christmas without my mom." (Connie's mother died this past year.)
Christmas just seems to inspire great moments and this was another memorable one in Ramona history. "I just get these ideas," said Connie without finishing the sentence, because she didn't have to — she was talking to another creative spirit, I know what it's like to be taken over by a great idea. "When Dan came home he walked in the house and saw this certain look in my eye," and then she laughed. "Dan's a good man and agreed to help me put together all the goodie bags. He even wore a silly snowman hat as he followed the fire truck carrying all the goodie bags. I guess Christmas brings out the kid in him too."
Ramona is lucky that way — we have a core group of creative people who take on different projects whether it's a haunted house, scarecrow parades, decorating Main Street for Christmas, showing off a train collection for a town event, or bringing Santa to your door. It's just proof that when you tap into your imagination, and turn your spirit loose, you can't help but make magic.
And that's the news from Ramona where we try to keep the Christmas spirit alive all through the year, and a traffic jam is two parked cars and a dog in the road.
