While getting the house ready for the holidays, I came across some 10-year-old columns from different newspapers. What a difference a decade makes in our lives! Shouldn’t we count our blessings here in our town and add to our gratitude list daily? I do.

My first column for Dec. 1999 began like this: “Never before have the streets of London been so beautifully done as they were for the last Christmas parade of the century. The lights were spectacular and the entertainment was sublime in the estimation of a sentimental pair — Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus.”

On Dec. 3, 1999, Santa was waving and smiling from his sleigh — four days later he was in a coma that seemed irreversible. He had been confused for several days. Laurel County’s school children sent him hundreds of handmade get-well cards. Churches were praying for him.

(We have been Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus for nearly 30 years around town.)

Now it is 2009 and I can make that statement once again, thank the Lord! “Never have the streets of London been so beautifully done!” The streets of London are even more beautiful than they were in 1999 — and we can thank the innovative folks who made it all possible, including Mayor Troy Rudder and the city council.

Back then, it looked like that would be my Santa’s last Christmas parade. On Dec. 7, ( I will never forget the date because it was the date of another horrible event, Pearl Harbor Day) he went into a diabetic coma and did not wake up for three weeks. He was flown to St. Joseph Hospital in Lexington from Marymount Hill. The pilot said it was his first time to fly Santa Claus. Ironically, his picture was on the front page of the newspaper on the sleigh in the Christmas parade Dec. 3.

My Santa was on life support for weeks and the doctor said he would be like a vegetable if he lived at all. His brain scans were flat. He was in Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital during Christmas and New Year’s. But after weeks of therapy and kidney failure, he made it back home for our anniversary on Valentine’s Day. The sky was dark with heavy clouds that day but there was the most gorgeous rainbow in the distant sky as the sun was setting. As we drove south on I-75, the rainbow came closer and closer to the interstate. It seemed to be next to us in the emergency lane, almost within reach; a strange, unbelievable phenomenon.

It made me feel like perhaps God was telling me: “It’s going to be okay.”

Santa has not missed a Christmas on Main Street parade in these 10 years since the diabetic coma. But he usually ends up in the hospital each Christmas Eve. He is looking forward to the parade this year on Dec. 4 and wants to take pictures with the youngsters.

His busy holiday schedule probably contributed to his diabetic coma in 1999 because he gets so excited about what he is doing with the kids, he forgets to eat his meals on time. Nowadays, I make sure he stops long enough to eat his meals. Also, he was on the diabetic drug, Rezulin, which allegedly killed several people that year. Now he takes three shots a day.

Santa is back. I believe prayer changes things... he had lots of people praying for him.

If all goes well, Santa will be in the parade this year on Dec. 4. He will also be at Frisch’s Big Boy from 4-8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 12. Come and see him. He will be delighted to see you!

Meanwhile, we will be getting ready for Thanksgiving, which will be a little different this year. Santa and I will go to Richmond to be with our daughter Joni and her husband Chuck. Son, Randy will go with us. Granddaughter Sarah will meet us there. Others have to work.

Most of our extended family members that were with us a couple of years ago are gone now. We will not travel to Tennessee this year. Time changes things. Daughter Juli and her husband Gordon will be there with their family. Son Dana will visit with his dad. We will try not to get too nostalgic and sad, but be thankful for life and the times we do get together.

Daughter Kathy is in Texas with her husband, Joe. Daughter Robin and her husband Brad will visit with them as Kathy recovers from surgery. Our family will be all around the United States but we will all be together in spirit. Some of us will get together at different times and have a nice dinner.

Hope you have a wonderful holiday season!

Shirley Caudill of London is a former newspaper editor/publisher and longtime freelance columnist. She is a Nashville native who has lived in Kentucky 40 years. She has six children, 11 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren and is married to a retired Army First Sergeant. She can be reached at gunnstar4912@gmail.com