Christmas mayhem? Hijinks? Shenanigans? Tomfoolery? Check. Check. Check. And check. The sisters were at it again, creating a holiday-themed WOW! Moment.

Last weekend, my city hosted its annual Dickens of a Christmas festival where the streets of our quaint downtown turn into a scene from A Christmas Carol. People come dressed for the occasion, and you can find characters like Tiny Tim, Scrooge, and Marley mingling amongst the crowd.

I signed up to volunteer at the festival, and one of the options was to run a snow machine at the courthouse. The description said, “Must be able to squat, crawl, and shimmy through a window to the balcony.” 

Did someone say shimmy??!! 

You can bet your chestnuts that I snapped up that job and enlisted the help of my sister. And since she’s the fun one, she ordered elf costumes for us to wear. 

Costumes turn any moment into a WOW! Moment!

Here’s what I learned from our two-hour shift:

• There are two kinds of people in the world: the kind who will wave back at an elf on a shelf balcony and the kind who will look away and pretend they didn’t just make eye contact with an elf on a balcony. For goodness’ sake, be the kind who waves!
• It’s fun to be on the balcony of an old courthouse. Especially if you have to squat, crawl, and shimmy to get there. It feels more exclusive that way. Now if I ever need to bolt during a court hearing, I know a good escape route.
• Commit to your character. British novelist William Makepeace Thackeray once said, “Whatever you are, be a good one.” My sister and I decided to be the best damn snow-blowing elves on the shelves balcony possible. We waved and smiled for two hours straight. 
• I’m getting sidetracked here, but is anybody else saying, “I thought Abraham Lincoln said that.” I did, too, but nope. It was William Makepeace Thackeray, who is most famous for writing Vanity Fair. Ironically (at least for this blog post), William died on Christmas Eve in 1863 at the young age of 52. He had a stroke after being plagued for years with stricture of the urethra, likely caused by his addiction to spicy peppers (I’m not making this up). He also wrote five Christmas books under the pen name “Mr. M. A. Titmarsh” (also not making this up). And he was influenced by the work of none other than Charles Dickens. WOW! It feels like a Christmas miracle that I chose to quote him in this post. 
• Another sidetrack: What’s up with William’s middle name? Did his mother choose it because she had a long, difficult labor due to having to push out Bill’s freakishly large head (true story) and swore like an English trooper during the delivery and decided to “make peace” with him once he was born? Or was it a family name? (I prefer Option #1. Interestingly, William was an only child. Clearly, his mom was NOT doing that again!)
• (Getting back on track now.) Manning the snow machine is not for sissy elves. Your waving hand can cramp up. Breathing in the “snow” can and will make you choke. After smiling for two hours straight, you start to look like Jack Nicholson in The Shining. And if you happen to have Raynaud Syndrome, exposure to cold can turn your fingers blue. For the second half of my shift, I looked more like Smurfette than an elf.
• It’s fun to be queen. After standing on a balcony and waving at a crowd, I now know exactly what it’s like to be royalty. Except for the actual ruling stuff. Everyone should experience this at least once. My sister and I plan on making this an annual event. 

If you are going to volunteer and get to choose what to do, always pick the most exciting or unusual job on the list. Then, whatever it is, be a good one!