Each year around this time, people decorate their hearth and home and I do that as well. But I also decorate my car. If you should see a midnight blue Saturn with an obtrusive muffler lumbering up the avenue with a set of antlers and a big red nose on the front of the grill, behind the wheel will be a little old driver who is semi lively and relatively quick...but it isn't St. Nick. That's me.
A couple of years ago I spotted a car parked in the lot of a liquor store adorned to look like one of Santa's finest and it gave me a chuckle. A veteran of many Christmases, here was a decoration and a display that I had never seen. I found it unique,so when I came across the antlers and nose that would make my car and I rolling Christmas at a local store, I jumped at the chance.
Now,every November this run of the mill Saturn goes from being just another used car to the Reindeer Car. And as we traverse the avenue, pedestrians and my fellow drivers show us the Christmas love. It really is nice to see other motorists from elderly ladies to skinheads smiling at me and using their index finger instead of the middle finger when they spot us. The other day a little girl asked her mom "if that was Santa Claus" as we pulled out of a parking lot. I coaxed a smile out of a gas station attendant and they pretty much despise everyone. My family worries I might get ticketed for being "too deery".
Sometimes,while on a mission, I forget my car is dressed for Christmas. I'll see someone laughing and take the chortles personally. "I am NOT an animal!" Then I remember it's not me...my car actually LOOKS like an animal. The headlights of the car,positioned beneath the cushy red nose,make it appear it's not just a reindeer,but a smiling,toothy one. I have been given the right of way even when the rules of the road said I didn't deserve it. I've been smiled at honked at and stared at and generally been treated the way a beautiful woman in a convertible must be treated all year long. I have grown to look forward to stop lights to see the reaction of people who aren't texting.
Christmas is often referenced as the time when we're all family realizing we're traveling the same road ,strangers become friends and the feeling of brotherhood abounds. On the road I travel in my silly reindeer car, out the windshiled I see that spirit reflected in the faces of the folks who for one moment, while coping with holiday traffic and the stress of the season,have a holiday chuckle. And after the new year when my car is just a Saturn with a noisy muffler, I start shopping for a pair of bunny ears and a snout because this kind of attention is hard to give up.
On twitter,the Reindeer Car will be @deeercar
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