THANK YOU FOR THE WARM WELCOME

One of the dilemmas of being a dad is to know when and whether to discuss the existence of the man in red who whiskered his way down the worlds fireplaces last weekend. Its a dilemma in several ways both for the big guys and the little folks. Whether and when should the kid be told and if so, what? If not told, will the fledgling hold it against dad and mom later in life for deception (this might explain drive-by shootings)? The traumas of school life if he turns out to be the only true believer in his grade could haunt the kid for life. If hes the last of the litter (in our case, Jeffrey is the last of four so Santas been around the Lage house for over two decades) Mom and Dad want to hang on to traditions. Still, if you knew Jeffrey youd have to ask the next question: Is this kid conning us to believe he believes so hell get more presents.

At Jeffreys birthday a month before Christmas in which he hit double digits his mother and I felt it might be an opportune time to determine Jeffreys beliefs. Since the wee one was getting birthday gifts, he could acknowledge they came from us. So I asked him: Where do you think Christmas gifts come from.

Jeffrey: Well, I know lots of them come from lots of people.

Dad: Well, what about Santa Claus.

Jeffrey (after a long pause): There are lots of them.

Dad: Do you think I might be one of them.

Jeffrey: Ive never seen you dressed like one.

Dad: What about the Easter Bunny.

Jeffrey: Same deal, Dad.

Dad: What do your friends believe.

Jeffrey: Oh, they know all about Santa Claus.

Dad: What do they know.

Jeffrey: They know there are lots of them.

Upshot of this conversation was, of course, not to reach its intended conclusion. Still, while I wasnt sure what he believed, I began to believe the little guy knew but didnt want me to know he knew. So I asked him to think about who Santa Claus was and wed talk about it later. Later came up several days before Christmas in a conversation with Mom that went like this.

Mom: Have you been thinking about what you and Dad talked about the other day that Santa Claus thing.

Jeffrey: Yep. I know all about it. Anyway, I read about it before in Super Fudge. Its a good thing I found out.

Mom: What do you mean.

Jeffrey: Im glad I figured it out cause if I hadnt and I became a dad my kids might be sitting around the tree at Christmas and there wouldnt be anything under it cause I wouldnt have known I had to get something for them!

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I want to thank the folks in the Cape area especially my neighbors and the hard-working crew at the office for welcoming me and my family back to our native state.

The people at the Southeast Missourian and Concord Printing Services especially deserve my thanks. In the nine months Ive been here Ive wreaked havoc on their lives. Ive thrown challenges at them that required massive effort on their part. For instance, we added a Saturday paper, we committed to daily process color for photos, we renovated much of the newspaper building, we converted to pagination (a process whereby most of the newspaper is now produced at computer terminals as opposed to traditional pasteup), we expanded the news hole and added sections like Home, Learning, Region, Health, and Finance and expanded the editorial pages and content. Through it all our folks produced a fantastic book titled Images Of The Past In The City Of Roses. More changes and challenges lie ahead for 1994. But I would be remiss in not extending a sincere thanks to the staff and to our many patient customers who have allowed us to make mistakes in the process of trying to improve the quality of your newspaper.

Wally Lage is publisher of the Southeast Missourian.