Heeeeey, just a quick note to say Happy New Year… almost.

I’m spending the last day of 2006 watching football (the New England Patriots, of course) and grazing on tons of snacks we bought for the day. It’s a quiet day here at the Belanger Palace, a day to reflect on 2006, and get fired up about the myriad of projects and endeavors I’m planning for 2007.

I hope everyone has a great evening and a fantastic 2007 full of love and laughs.

-Jeff

Some people die at the most inopportune times. Sure, dying on Christmas day is a tough blow to family and friends, but dying the day before an American president pretty much insures your tributes will be buried on page 2.

In his twilight years, James Brown was best known for his legal troubles, chemical dependency, and… well… more legal troubles. But when you put on his old music… that guy rocked. He was bad ass. Super bad. I don’t care if you’re white or black, young or old, when “I Feel Good” comes on the radio, you groove. Jump back. Wanna kiss myself. OWWWWW!

I’ll mourn the loss of an artist over the loss of a politician any day of the week. But two things are really bumming me out right now. First, that the United States media will focus on Gerald Ford’s three years in office instead of an American legend’s many decades in music, and second, I have a cold and I come in and out of clarity thanks to swelling sinuses taking on antihistamines.

If James Brown ever haunts the Apollo, call me. I’m there.

Merry Christmas to all my Christian friends. And to all my friends of other belief systems… happy Chinese food and movie night! 

I met Dave on Ghostvillage.com. He was an actor, storyteller, and a friend. He passed away in June of 2005, but not before leaving his mark on a lot of people. I asked him what it was like to play Santa.

I played Santa at Universal Studios Hollywood for five years. Parade, lap, and media Santa. But my favorite memory as a Santa was when I went out with a group of volunteer performers to a place that was basically a day care center for senior citizens who couldn’t really take care of themselves. That’s where I met Frank. Frank had a stroke and couldn’t speak anymore. A nurse/helper-type person wheeled him up to me and said, Frank, tell Santa what you want. I watched as this man who reminded me of Kirk Douglas struggled to try to speak and saw the tears build in his eyes when he couldn’t, and I heard myself say, “It’s all right, Frank. Santa never forgets a friend, and we go way back. I know what you want and I’ll do my best. Bless you Frank.” I’d never said bless you to anyone before. Frank then grabbed me in a hug so tight I thought my ribs would break. We were both crying openly. Absolutely no shame. As we were leaving, the nurse said Frank had been unresponsive for a week before that visit. I went back the next year and all they knew was that Frank was no longer there. I sure hope he got that wish.

I asked my father what his earliest memory of Santa was.

I remember I was about four years old – I was in preschool. My father worked in the tool and die department of American Optical Company with about 100 guys, and they did lots of stuff for the families. They had a children’s Christmas party at the Hamilton Rod and Gun club in Sturbridge, Massachusetts at the north end of Cedar Lake. The club was a lodge-type building with an upstairs and a downstairs. The upstairs was a dining area with two or three rows of tables about 30 or 40 feet long and then a front porch, and the basement was like a game room with a knotty pine wood bar. I remember being there for a Christmas party, and we drove up there, just my father and I, and when we got to the place, it was dark. We went inside and all of the kids were downstairs in the basement and we watched movies. They were Christmas movies, and they showed Santa Claus flying through the sky with Rudolph and landing on rooftops. We watched movies for a good long time, and we had candy canes and stuff.

Then it was time to have dinner for the fathers and the children, so we marched upstairs toward the dining area, but first they brought us out on the porch, and there was the biggest Christmas tree I have ever seen in my life – it was huge. I was spellbound by the size of this thing. Then it started to snow, and it was those big, big, big snowflakes, and I could hear sleigh bells in the background. And up through the parking lot comes a horse-drawn sleigh with Santa in it, and he got out and came up on the porch, where all of us children were standing, and it was the Ho Ho Ho – it was so real it was unbelievable. We all got presents out of this big bag that Santa had, and our names were on them and everything. He knew everybody in the room. After we started opening our gifts, he was gone. To this day, I don’t know who that Santa Claus was.

Brandon is my nephew. Like many boys his age, he’s focused on toys and play time.

Ever meet Santa?

I never met him, but I heard him once. I heard a buncha deer on Christmas Eve.

When I was three, I met the fake Santa at the mall and by mistake I pulled off his beard. It went back on, and all he said was hey. Then he asked me what I wanted.

Last Christmas I saw a bunch of Santa dudes. They were like dinga linga ling with those bells. People were putting money in the thingamajig. They say Have a good Christmas, and then I say You too.

One time I was looking out the window, and my parents weren’t there, and I thought that Santa just left. I thought I saw some breath steam coming off the roof. Something did stink like deer.

What do you think of Santa?

He’s pretty cool. Technically, he might need to go to a weight-loss clinic, but he’s pretty cool.

Think you’ll see him this year?

Hopefully, because last year my sister tried to wake up early to see if Santa Claus does exist, but when we got up, all we saw were a bunch of filled stockings and presents. 

If you could tell Santa anything, what would it be?

I’d like to have… you’ve heard of the TIE fighters in Star Wars, right? Well I want a TIE pilot, cause I don’t have one.

That’s what you’d tell Santa if you had the chance to tell him anything at all?

I might want more Star Wars things like a sand trooper, a snow trooper. I just like the bad guys more than the good guys.

Do you think Santa deserves a year off?

No. What could be so hard about making your deer land on it [the roof] and then barely walking to the chimney and then just jumping down the chimney or tapping your nose and falling through the roof?

I never even saw the guy. Yet.