Turn on the lights!

Tonight Fort Wayne continued a long tradition of turning on the downtown Christmas lights on Thanksgiving Eve, so now I know it's time to get serious about Christmas shopping. I did not join the thousands outside but I did enjoy the TV coverage. Of course the high point is the lighting of Santa Claus and his reindeers.  They said on TV today that this Santa display was first put up in 1940, used for several years and then stored away until the 1980s when it was rediscovered and used again.  I have clear memories of my brother and me being driven downtown by my parents to see the Santa Claus on the side of the store (about 1950 I'm guessing) and then being taken inside Wolf and Dessauer's Department Store to sit on the real Santa's lap. Back then Phil Steigerwald was Santa and I've never yet seen a truer rendition.  Many years later I had the pleasure of working with Phil in real estate and I'm happy to say hew was every bit as nice as Santa should be. Sweet memories.