With the holidays in full swing, and the students all gone, nothing much happens around here, except in the dining hall, where most of my interaction takes place these days.

So, of course, I wasn’t much surprised the other day, when all of a sudden Santa Clause strayed into the dining hall when I had just sat down for dinner. Well, granted, he was a rather small-sized version of Santa, and I did prefer to call him Sam Clause, because he usually goes by the name of Sam (if he’s not occupied trying to fill Santa’s big boots that is).

Sam Clause, however, wasn’t too happy with us calling him anything related to Santa, despite the evidence of the hat he was wearing, and when I asked him why not, he said, “I’m not Santa Clause, because I’m too little!”

Ah, now that, you know, is a really good argument, I have to admit. And thinking about it now, who am I to argue with a witty little six-year old, even if looks a lot like Santa Clause? And wasn’t Santa Clause a boy once too?