Tag Archives: Spokane

The Magic of Santa

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Christmas means so much to little kids for so many reasons including: One of the most important times at their church, days off of school, Christmas tree hunting and decorating, specials on television, presents, lots of special sweets, and just that general holiday spirit that fills homes and communities. Probably the biggest part of Christmas though that makes the season so special to kids in a way that adults can no longer feel is Santa Claus. But let me get a little more specific. Kids just don’t enjoy Christmas as much as they do because of Santa Claus himself but rather because of the magic of Santa Claus. Sure, the physical presence of the big fat man in a red suit with an overflowing white beard carrying a big sack of toys is very significant but it is more about the legend and mystique of Kris Kringle that makes the holiday so special.

To this day I still love Santa Claus.

Yes, I used to be one of those children who cherished Santa Claus and who really held a special place in my little kid heart for him. As I grew older and as I stopped believing, Christmas was never really the same to me. Even though I gained a better appreciation for what the holiday truly is meant for, that magic that I am going to keep referring to throughout this post dimmed quite a bit. For tonight, I wish to recall the five aspects of the Santa Claus experience that I still look back on today with very fond and distinctive memories. Why tonight? Maybe because with the conclusion of the Thanksgiving weekend it is now officially Christmas season. Or maybe it is because I just saw“Rise of the Guardians” and am in the Santa Claus mood. Or maybe it was the fact that tonight at church they had the Giving Trees set up, a wonderful opportunity to pass on the magic of Santa to those who are less fortunate. Most likely, it is combination of all three of those reasons. Thank you for letting me share my Santa experiences with you.

1. Santa Letters: Each year once December would hit, I would sit down at our kitchen table and write a letter to Santa. In the very early years I would tell my parents what I wanted the letter to say and they would draft it for me. After I learned to write, I would compose the letter myself with my mom helping me with spelling. I would try to butter Santa up with as many compliments as possible, ask him a couple questions, and then hit him with my list. I would then put the letter in an envelope, simply address it as “Santa Claus – North Pole”, and place it in the mailbox.

Little kids don’t forget. I checked the mail every single day after I sent my letter. Although I would grow impatient, I would always get a response from Santa. Arriving in a Christmas themed envelope and composed on special Santa stationary, I would read the letter over and over (or my Mom would). Having that personal correspondence with Santa made me feel so special, something that I could show to my friends and brag about…until they got their own letter of course. You see, at school we would always write letters to Santa as well. This would come after I had written my first letter to him. Nonetheless, I still loved doing it and still waited in anticipation for a response which also always came. Usually, our response at school came from one of Santa’s elves, making it so Santa wouldn’t contradict himself in the response he had already given me.

As I made my way through elementary school, I later became one of those “Santa’s elves.” Having the opportunity to respond to the letters that had as much love and awe as the ones I sent just a few years earlier provided me with quite a bit of joy. I took the task very seriously and tried as hard as possible to pass the magic on.

2. Fire Truck Santa: When I moved out of Spokane, I felt a sense of shock that not all places paraded Santa Claus around in fire trucks through neighborhoods. One of the most special Santa memories I have was when the Spokane Fire Department would come by my street during their December food drive. With about three Christmas decorated fire vehicles in line (with one carrying Santa in the back), the procession would go through neighborhoods, stopping to let kids sit on Santa’s lap in exchange for a can or two of food.

Santa would always hit my neighborhood when my brother, sister, and myself had been put to bed. My parents would awaken all of us, excitedly telling us that Santa was in the neighborhood. They would quickly dress us in our winter clothes and take us outside where we would join all of our friends and their parents as we waited for Santa to get closer. As the sirens grew louder and we could hear the public address system on the truck announcing Santa’s arrival, we got very excited and a little nervous too. Then, it truly became a sight when the procession would turn onto our street as the flashing fire lights combined with the Christmas lights attached onto the vehicles made for a beautiful Christmas scene.

The unique experience of seeing Santa on a fire truck late at night after already going to bed and spending it with your friends who had also already gone to bed as well will always be fondly engrained in my head.

I try to give as much respect as possible to Santa, even if that means Tebowing in front of him.

3. Santa at Church: The Sunday before Christmas, Santa Claus would always visit my church after all masses. As a kid, it was my understanding that the Santas I saw at the mall, ringing bells outside the super market, and even the one on the fire truck were all “Santa’s Helpers.” I knew they were not the real Santa, just people working for him. However, the Santa who visited my church was different. My parents told me that he was the real Santa and I took my visit with him very seriously. Sitting in his chair in the old community center of my hometown church, he just seemed different and more important than all the other Santas I saw previous to him that year…I knew he was special.

A few things stuck out about the Santa at church. First, he was always the same guy for all the years I attended church there (just a nice, loyal member of the Knights of Columbus I would later learn). Second, I would always get a free polaroid photo with him. I loved getting the photo and shaking it, anxiously waiting for the image to appear. Those polaroids are the only Santa pictures I have growing up. Third, he would always give us a LARGE candy cane. No, he did not give us the miniature candy canes that are always broken, he gave us the big ones! Church Santa was always special and he received a much different level of reverence from me.

4. Awaiting Santa: To go along with my point that this post is more about the magic of Santa rather than Santa himself, perhaps I didn’t get any more excited and involved in the holiday season than during Christmas Eve. Even though I didn’t see him or get correspondence with him, nothing beats the anticipation of a kid on Christmas Eve. I will never forget scoping the skies coming back from our Christmas Eve gathering with my dad’s side of the family to my grandparents’ house where we were staying. Looking for Santa’s sleigh with my brother and sister in the Walla Walla sky was something we always did. When we arrived at the house, we put together a plate of baked goods and wrote Santa a letter. My parents would urge us to go to bed so Santa could come and deliver the gifts. Although I knew in the back of my mind that he would always come, I still felt a sense of nervousness that he might skip us over that particular year. But my excitement definitely overshadowed those nerves and I always went to bed a very happy boy.

5. Christmas Morning: Waking up on Christmas morning was exhilarating. My brother and I would run up the stairs and into my grandparents’ living room where we were lucky enough to see large packages that were not there the night before. We would then look to the fireplace where the plate of cookies/candy had been. The plate would be empty and a reply to our note would be there. Too dumb to know that it was my mom’s handwriting, it would talk about what good kids we were, how more presents would be waiting for us in Spokane, and how he had given the peanut brittle we left him to his reindeer. Knowing that Santa had taken the time to hit our house and deliver gifts while also taking time to write a note absolutely made my Christmas morning and strengthened my belief in him, especially during those early years. Kind of weird, but I would always want to keep the wrapping paper from the gifts that Santa had delivered, thinking it was sort of sacred since it had to have come from the North Pole. I also scoured the area, trying to see if Santa had mistakenly left anything behind or if any strands from his suit had fallen off while in our residence. Although my searches for “extras” went to no avail, I always had a deep appreciation and awe for the amazing Santa.

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Every once in a blue moon I will dress up as the fat man also!

To this day, I am very sensitive and joyful around kids who still believe in Santa. I know I have already said this word numerous times in this post but it is just that magic that exists that brightens a whole kid’s outlook on life. Although I obviously still don’t believe in Santa (ever heard of a 26 year old guy who does?) I love everything about the mythical legend of Santa Claus. I love Santa movies, Santa crafts, Santa ornaments, and people who can tastefully and believably dress up as him. You can bet that I have already been searching #Santa on Instagram. Have a great Christmas season everyone, HO HO HO! Don’t Blink.

Man Vs. Food Northern Quest Style

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On Thursday night I made the quite familiar trip from Missoula to Spokane so I could spend the evening with my mom who was celebrating her 55th birthday. My mom chose Northern Quest*, a popular casino resort right on the outskirts of Spokane, to mark her special day. My mom and brother ventured out to Quest in the late afternoon to start their gambling odyssey. By the time I arrived in town and my dad and I made it out to the resort, it was dinner time.

We decided to eat at The Q, a sports bar restaurant inside Northern Quest. The restaurant’s menu is very diverse with many tempting choices, but this particular time my brother and I knew exactly what we were going to order the minute we walked into The Q’s entrance. While waiting in line to get a table, we glanced at the board that contained the day’s specials and saw that Thursday featured “The Big Dog” for $9. Now I love hot dogs but I usually don’t order them as my entrée at restaurants. I usually wait to throw them back at ball games and outdoor BBQs. But on this night, a voice just seemed to whisper in my ear that I needed to go with the hot dog. Obviously, my brother had the same voice speaking in his ear as well. Our waitress took our order: My dad asked for the reuben sandwich, my mom got a burrito, and my brother and I said we both wanted The Big Dog. Our waitress asked us if we wanted to add chili and cheese to the dog for $3 more. She really didn’t need to twist our arms, we both said YES.

My brother and I had absolutely no idea what we were in for. Of course we both took note of the name of the item as well as the description on the menu that said the dog was 22 inches long but what we were about to have put in front of us dramatically exceeded our expectations.

The four of us were really enjoying ourselves. Sipping on our drinks and munching on a soft pretzel appetizer while watching the Olympics in the busy bar, we didn’t even see the waitress coming up behind our table with our food. By the time she was a couple feet from us she got our attention and my eyes widened and my jaw dropped.

The waitress immediately caught the look of disbelief on my face as she lightly laughed and waited for my brother and I to clear the table of everything so there would be adequate room to place our dinners in front of us. In two greatly elongated trays laid two gigantic hot dogs fit to feed a small army. Smothered in chili and cheese and with TWO big mounds of fries on both ends of the tray, I almost had a heart attack on the spot. Now I am not saying The Q’s menu purposely underestimated the size of these dogs but let’s just say they looked much bigger than 22 inches. Take a look at the picture and decide for yourself.

This is me with The Big Dog.

It took two minutes just for my brother and I to let the realization of what sat in front of us sink in. Then came the feeling of a little bit of embarrassment. People at the surrounding tables were glancing over at what sat in front of us. I felt like a pig. But eventually my hunger overpowered the shock and embarrassment and after eating some of the fries, I picked up my fork and the knife that came with the dog and dug in. As an avid watcher of “Man Vs. Food” I genuinely felt like I was on the show itself. Intrigued by food challenges that restaurants across the nation offer for brave customers, I have never participated in one up to this point. Although the Big Dog is not billed as an official food challenge at The Q, I felt like that was exactly what it was. It seemed to me like the only way someone was going to finish that thing was if he/she had an abnormally huge appetite, there was some type of incentive involved for finishing it, and the ambitious eater had a small cheering section.

An up close picture of The Big Dog.

I started eating the dog with the best of intentions and with a pretty high level of hunger. Eating a bag of chips for lunch, traveling, and then sitting down for a late dinner had me in an eating mood. Conversely, taking away from a better performance was the pretzel appetizer my family shared along with the 25 ounce beer I had just about completely downed. All things considered, I put my best eating effort forward. However, even with my mom and dad cutting off a bite here and there for themselves, I didn’t even finish half of The Big Dog. In fact, I didn’t even manage to finish off one of the mounds of fries. My brother did just a tad better than me. My respect for people who conquer eating challenges skyrocketed.

Another angle of The Big Dog

Our waitress brought out boxes for us and we somehow managed to fit our leftovers into them. As we piled the remains into the styrofoam containers, she remarked that people usually order The Big Dog to split…yep, seems about right. Of course the minute our Big Dogs came out to our table we were taking pictures and posting to social media. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram all got a taste (no pun intended) of what Glen and I were eating for dinner. A few of my favorite comments: “Does that come with a shot of pepto?” – “How many animals were killed to prepare that meal?” – “Did you order that for your whole family?” – “Is that for real?” – “Looks like you will have leftovers for a week.”

In the end, this is how I did

Just a couple more notes: Although I didn’t have leftovers for a whole week, I did have a couple more meals with The Big Dog after Thursday night. When it is not on special, the Big Dog is $12.95. If you ask me, just at regular price that is quite the bargain! Again, the amount of food is just outrageous. At its Thursday special price of $9, I don’t know if there is a better food deal in the state of Washington. Just the amount of fries alone is sufficient enough for a meal. Speaking of fries, you get the choice of regular fries, garlic fries, or waffle fries. I got garlic fries and my brother got waffle fries. Because it was my mom’s birthday she got free dessert which was a big piece of ice cream pie. Like good sons, Glen and I helped her eat it, even though our bellies ached.

Here I am the next day with my leftovers.

Ordering The Big Dogs added to the memorable evening of celebrating my mom’s special day. Surely we will always look back on her 55th birthday as the time we ate ourselves silly and ordered something we were totally unprepared to eat. I hope people who read this post and who venture out to Northern Quest in the future will order The Big Dog and try their luck at conquering a real beast. If you do, make sure you take pictures and send me the end result. On Thursday night at Northern Quest I went toe-to-toe with food and in my inaugural battle, food won. Don’t Blink.

* Other Northern Quest related blog posts I have written:

Winning a Social Media Contest

Meeting Toby Keith

Reba Mcentire Live in Concert

Time to Take The Fall: Spokane Law Enforcement Exposes Asian Spas

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Media Account #1 – KREM TV
Media Account #2 – Spokesman Review

Today in Spokane, several law enforcement agencies participated in a raid of eight Asian spa/massage parlors that were suspected of running a prostitution ring. Officials also raided private residences as well. Several arrests were made.

All of this happened around noon today when the raids were carried out simultaneously so details are still coming out but I couldn’t help but feel intrigued by such a bust. Asian spa/massage parlors are notorious across the country for not really offering their publically advertised services but rather sex. I have watched a couple of great investigations conducted by Dateline in other cities where these places are exposed but to see it occur in my hometown really grabbed my attention.

With the Airway Heights Police Department leading the investigation, officials worked on this case for fourteen months. The investigation included several officers going undercover as johns at Northern Quest Casino (a meeting place for prostitutes in the Spokane area), arresting the prostitutes, and then striking a deal with them to become informants in the investigation. The arrested individuals were able to give law enforcement an inside look into what was going on inside the walls of these Asian spas. I love this stuff. I have always had an interest and appreciation for police/detectives, especially the ones who devote most of their time to the vice unit. The fact that this investigation was so planned out and coordinated with precision makes this a pretty cool story.

Some interesting (and by interesting I mean mostly sad) information did come out immediately after the raids. Every single establishment that operated as an “Asian spa/massage parlor” in the Spokane area (8 total) was implicated in the sting. For all the legitimate Asian spas out there in the country, this has to serve as a slap in the face. A very unsavory stereotype of these businesses is picking up steam each day. In many of the establishments raided today, not even one massage table could be found. Incredibly, the owners didn’t even bother to make the smallest effort in trying to give off the appearance that they were practicing what their storefronts claimed. Officials estimate that 200-250 women have been involved in this operation. Wow. This was not some small scale crackdown. This ring was established and seemingly very profitable.

I wonder if the area agencies brought in some outside source (such as a Dateline type outfit) to help document this investigation. Personally, I will be following this story as the gritty details start to really unfold. I would watch with interest any in-depth report or coverage that a national media outlet might produce. I want to see deals made, I want to see the layouts of these parlors, I want to see what the owners look like, I want to see what the girls look like, I want to see what the johns look like, I want to hear monetary figures, I want to know about the culture, I want to know everything I possibly can. I know this can sound creepy or weird to some but under all of the disgust I have for these dirty brothels and the people who run them, I just can’t look away.

What a victory for law enforcement agencies in Spokane today. Yes, everyone is innocent until proven guilty but judging by the length of this investigation, the informants, and the early numbers on people impacted, it seems like the city got a whole lot better off this afternoon. Time to watch the aftermath. Don’t Blink.