Meeting Santa Claus

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Since I was raised in two different cultures one being American and one Latvia it was a kind of confusing growing-up period. At the age of three, I was still not in grade school nor in Latvian school which was held in the basement of the church the Latvian congregation rented from the Swedish. However, now and then my mom took me to Latvian school on Saturdays so I would get used to it, the teachers, and the children. Latvian schools were many in NYC because they were divided up in different neighborhoods and places so Latvian families could choose the one that was closest to them. Every Christmas season the Latvian society rented a large ballroom in Manhattan NYC called Arlington Hall, which I think today is long gone. They needed large space because the Christmas celebration incorporated all the NYC Latvian schools and each school put on a play. My parents took me because they knew I would enjoy the excitement and knew that I could meet Santa for the first time. As you can see in the photo I am scared. Most likely this Santa was a Latvian friend of my parents whom I had already met but at three he was Santa. Mom told me later about this photo. In case I started crying or wanted to run away my dad was standing right behind me. Afterward, my mom figured I was also ready to go to a department store to meet their Santa. As it was explained to me and as much as I could understand Santa knew practically all the languages in the world. So since English was the universal language I had to speak to Santa at the department store in English. By the time I was eight, I thought of myself as an expert on Santa.