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construction of the
booths and tents for the Festival. The Swensens take signups for
the booths at their Café, help organize the parade and handle the
dessert auction. The city council and police department start
discussing the Festival in September, planning out the parade
route, street closures, and handling the publicity to let people in
the surrounding communities know about it. One year, they even
managed to get it mentioned in Texas Monthly .
    Of course, the highlight for the kids is
still Santa Claus. While she has turned over the organizational
details of Santa’s Workshop to Janet Carmichael in recent years,
the Widow Missus has always handled the selection of the Santa
herself. For years, Santa was played by her husband. After his
death, she felt it a personal duty to make sure that the role was
filled by a fitting person, someone who loved kids and loved the
town. Mayor Al had been a perfect choice.
    This year, though, she was coming up
short.
    Cliff Magnuson had volunteered his services
almost immediately. While she liked Cliff and appreciated
everything he did for the Festival, the Widow Missus felt he’d be
putting too much pressure on himself by adding the role of Santa on
top of it all. There was always something that came up during the
Festival – an electrical outlet that stopped working, a tent that
started to fall. She depended on him to be available to deal with
things like that. It would be hard to explain to the kids why Santa
had to leave to replace a fuse.
    John Swensen certainly looked the part, but
he was in the same situation. With the dessert auction and parade,
it would be too much to handle, even with Jo’s help. Besides, with
his distinctive Minnesota accent, even the smallest child would
know it was him as soon as he opened his mouth to speak.
    That was the trouble: she kept finding that
either the men she thought of weren’t appropriate for the part (too
tall, too short, too young), or were already involved with other
areas of the Festival.
    She was still trying to find her Santa when
she stopped by the library to collect the library’s November
subscription check for the Sentinel . Mike Baldridge, the
librarian, was talking to Cap Blakeney when she walked in.
    “Morning, Mike. Morning Cap.” She smiled.
    “Good morning, Missus Johnson,” replied Cap.
“I was just telling Mike that Emily is bringing Little Philip to
the Festival this year to see Santa Claus.”
    “Oh, that will be wonderful,” she said.
“We’ll be sure to make multiple copies of that picture so you and
your Mom can both have one, too.”
    Cap smiled. “Thank you! I’d like that.”
    Mike handed her the check. “So, have you
found someone to play Santa this year since Al won’t be
around?”
    The Widow Missus shook her head. “I’m still
trying to find someone. Everyone I’ve considered is either too busy
or the wrong size or the wrong age. It can’t be just anyone. It has
to be just the right person.”
    She took a second and looked at Mike. He was
just about the right size. He was a bit young, in his early
thirties, but her husband had been about his age when the first
Festival had been held. And the kids loved him – Wednesday story
hour was always a big success.
    Mike noticed her staring. He shook his
head.
    “If you’re thinking what I think you’re
thinking…”
    “Oh, come on now. Not even for the children?”
the Widow Missus smiled. “Not even for Janet Carmichael?”
    Mike blushed, suddenly flustered. Cap
chuckled. He knew how Mike felt about Janet. It was another one of
those things he’d figured out.
    Mike cleared his throat. “Um…what’s…what does
Janet have to do with this?”
    The Widow Missus continued. “Janet is in
charge of organizing all the parts of the Festival involving Santa.
She makes sure he gets from the parade to the Workshop to meet the
children. She works very close with Santa.”
    “She’s Santa’s little helper,” chimed in
Cap.
    “Please, Mike. We