Who started the "ho-ho-ho" thing by the way? Have you ever heard anyone other than a pseudo-Santa laugh by saying "ho-ho-ho"? I can see "hah, hah, hah," even "hee, hee, hee" maybe, but who would say "ho, ho, ho" in real life? I don't get it.
I double-checked Clement Moore's 1823 classic, "A Visit from St. Nicholas" -- a.k.a. "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" -- and that's not it.
There's not one "ho" to be found, let alone three of them. But we digress.
On Thursday, trees and fire hydrants around city hall were decked out in yellow ribbons to honor local service men and women and their families, and not one but three National Guard Humvees were stuffed with donated toys. It's a great cause, and if you want to make it greater, get your sled down to Newport Beach City Hall at 3300 Newport Blvd. and drop off a toy by Wednesday. Both Santa and the mayor will appreciate it.
In view of Thursday's Mayor-slash-Santa, imagine my surprise on Friday morning when I walked into a meeting at the Orange County Transportation Authority and there was Santa seated with my fellow board members, reading over a staff report.
I knew almost immediately it wasn't really Santa.
It was Art Brown, mayor of Buena Park and vice chairman of the OCTA, who had just flown in from Arrowhead Pond where he had been Santa Clausing for the Stuff-A-Bus program, a joint effort of the OCTA, ABC-7 Eyewitness News and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, who are like the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim only with a shorter name and different equipment.
On Friday morning, people converged on the Pond from far and wide to donate new toys and sports equipment, all of which were stuffed into a very large OCTA bus and sent down the road to needy kids.
How many toys does it take to stuff a 40-foot, 15-ton bus? A lot. More than 2,000 last year if you want numbers.
