I SAW BONNIE KISSING SANTA CLAUS:
A Story of Christmas and PHS '68 Friendship
BONNIE ANDREWS KOLBERG and KATHY INDORF MORGAN
I met up with Bonnie and her husband Bill one very cold December night before Christmas in the Winking Lizard. They weren't at all hard to find as they were the only ones in the place dressed as Santa and Mrs. Claus, with a longgggg line of children fidgeting in front of them, waiting their turns to speak to our august classmate and her partner in joy. Some fidgeted with happy anticipation, others were in moderate agony at this event that was clearly their parents' idea of a good time and not theirs. Most seem torn. I mean, who doesn't want to meet Santa...but then, the awesomness of the whole deal hits you hard when you are only four.
As I waited my turn, I watched how good Bonnie and Bill are at this gig. They knew right what to say to each child, how close (or far) to stay. Not a single child shrank or cried, though one put up quite a front of smugness, covering up a bad case of nerves. Santa and Mrs. Claus were fine with this fake condescension and got to the point: what DID he want for Christmas? A long list ensued. A thousand angels passed. The camera light flashed. One child down and another crawled up onto Bill's generous lap as Bonnie scooched her cape close and smiled that sweet Mrs. Santa smile. The mothers and fathers looked suspiciously at me, clearly alone there in line, but fortunately, there was a lull after me, so I got to have my picture taken without inconveniencing any tot waiting to wheel and deal with the big man.
Still, I didn't want to be asking questions like, "How long have you been dressing up like Santa and Mrs. Claus?" so I saved those questions for later and met up with Bonnie again at the Winking Lizard a few weeks later. She rushed in through the rain from her job as Guidance Secretary at Jackson High, and soon we had big drinks in front of us. Margarita Night at the Lizard. I began by asking her how she and Bill happened to take on the Santa act, and she answered, "Well really, it all began with Kathy."
And most of Bonnie's life story involves Kathy Indorf Morgan, also PHS '68. The women met up in second grade at Richville. About those early years of friendship, Kathy says, "I wish I could remember exactly how our friendship began but unfortunately I can't as it seems as though Bonnie was born part of my family.... Friday was always fish and French fry night and usually ended up with Bonnie's dad settling the argument on whose turn it was to wash or dry the dishes. We sewed dresses for our dolls before Barbie even existed. We always stood up for each other and when a 6th grade teacher insisted I misspelled a word given to me to spell for the spelling bee Bonnie spoke up and said that I was correct and that he just didn't want to see me win.... That definitely got her into trouble!"
Kathy notes that they had other friends throughout junior high and high school, but the other friends always came second to their first friendship, and when they graduated from Perry, they went off to dental school together in Columbus. It seems there was post-graduation bar hopping and beer chugging in Kent. Chugging, Bonnie admits, because she hated the taste of beer so much but wanted to be cool, so she downed the beer to get the bitterness over with. I am now going to condense this sordid part of their lives except to mention that it was during this era that Kathy hooked Bonnie up with Bill Kolberg in a double date. (I would be quick to point out that "hook up" did not mean then what it means in today's dating scene.) Bonnie and Bill fell in love, married, and had four daughters. Kathy did not fall in love with the guy from that double date but another guy, and they had children too. Bonnie and Bill eventually moved into Bill's childhood home in Jackson, while Kathy and her husband got a home in Brimfield. Still through all that the two women stayed best friends, as did their families.
When Kathy's parents died, she remembered her promise to her mom that the family would stay close and continue the family practice of celebrating the Christmas holidays together. But it's hard, that first Christmas after one or both of your parents are suddenly gone; the glue that held you all together seems gone, too. So Kathy was looking for something dramatic to galvanize the Indorf gang. Then she got just the idea: have Santa Claus show up at their Christmas Eve festivities. And she knew just the couple to do it. Kathy proposed, and Bonnie disposed, as the saying goes. And Bill, the all-time good sport agreed. They rented costumes that first year. And they were a SMASH. And they kind of liked doing it. They were good at it. You know how sometimes you just know you are good at something, and it's not just your friends telling you so? (Even though, Kathy clearly told them they did a great job.)
Eventually, Bonnie and Bill invested in their own costumes. They began agreeing to visit other friends' homes, and soon they were also taking paid gigs: union halls (beginning with Bill's union, and then taking on others, too), nursing homes, and schools. (If you are on Facebook, you can see many photos of them at the Jackson Schools
here.) They took on the Winking Lizard crowd. On the Sunday before Christmas, they appear at their own house with plates and plates of cookies that Bonnie's daughters bake. "I don't bake," she says. "I love to cook, but I don't bake." Bill, on the other hand, has a tradition of making a New Year's cake every year which is quite the ordeal, well-documented on Bonnie's Facebook page.
But every Christmas Eve, along with stops at a few other friends' houses, Santa and Mrs. Kolberg Claus make the most important stop for Kathy's family. It's now a tradition neither of them would miss, a tradition grounded in Richville and spelling bees and study hall, dating and beer and having kids and having kids grown, the glee and the heartache, the holiday and then a whole new year to look forward to.
Happy 2014, everybody! If you are interested in having Santa and Mrs. Claus round out this year for you, you can contact Bonnie at <bonnielkolberg50 (at) att (dot) net>.* If you'd like a reference for them, contact Kathy Indorf Morgan. I can tell you already, it will be a glowing report.
*This is to prevent robo-email from picking up Bonnie's address. When you email her, substitute the @ for (at) and . for (dot).
Afterward: I have to say that one of the joys of writing this piece involves the fact that Bill Kolberg and I went to the same church as children, and when we were children, my dad was the guy who played Santa. I had no idea then. Later, when my siblings and I were grown, my mom and dad, dressed as Santa and Mrs. Claus, took to visiting my cousins' homes on Christmas Eve. One of my most cherished photos is of my mommy, dressed in a velvet suit, kissing Santa Claus.
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