Santa's Out of Duct Tape and Patience

Welcome! Time to get comfy, grab your coffee mug and settle in for Coffee, Laughs, and Chats Holiday Edition. This month’s theme: Santa’s Out of Duct Tape and Patience. Around here, our conversations are sometimes funny, sometimes serious, but ALWAYS real!

Holidays are supposed to be magical, but sometimes the only magic is how fast the cookies burn, the lights tangle, and relatives discover new topics to debate. This year, for many people, Santa’s not just running low on patience, he is officially out of duct tape, too. And, who better to navigate the holiday whirlwind than Aja Casper?

Aja is a wife, mom, Learning Development Specialist, and founding member of Hype Hop Dance Fitness. If anyone can survive the holidays with a smile, or at least a well-timed eye roll; hey, it’s Aja. Most days, she’s the glue holding it all together. Other days? Well, let’s just say Jesus, coffee, and Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cakes are doing the heavy lifting.

Aja didn’t have to dig deep for her “duct tape moment”; she’s living one right now. “Just when you think you’ve got a handle on things, Thanksgiving and Christmas are back-to-back, the car breaks down, you’re renting a vehicle that’s draining your account while waiting on reimbursement from insurance, grocery prices are through the roof, and you haven’t bought a single present yet.” She sighed. “Add in a crazy work schedule, a husband working third shift, and a teenage daughter who wants to stay up all night chatting with friends, and you’ve got all the ingredients for a major meltdown if you’re not careful. Let’s just say I need a pretty huge roll of duct tape to tackle it all.”  

We swapped stories about infamous “oops” moments, the kind of things that happen when your patience is just about gone. Aja shared last year’s Christmas breakfast debacle. “It was a disaster. I thought I was so ahead of the game with an egg and potato casserole in the crockpot, but when I smelled something burning and saw smoke, I realized something was very wrong. The casserole was completely burnt to a crisp. Come to find out, I had accidentally set the crockpot on “high” instead of “low.” So much for “ahead of the game, right?” Anyway, with no eggs left, breakfast turned into a makeshift buffet of cinnamon rolls, canned chicken, bacon bits, and, just for laughs, a bowl of leftover spaghetti. I’m sure we’ll laugh about it someday, but the Christmas breakfast tradition has run its course. Let’s face it, some year’s you can’t even buy Christmas spirit on Amazon, I’ve tried.” 

As we get older, patience runs thin. We all have meltdown moments. Aja’s survival kit is actually very simple: Order take out, add a splash of RumChata, and let Jesus take the wheel. When she is overwhelmed, Aja has a few tried and true ways to recharge. Sometimes, she’ll slip into a quiet room, turn off the lights, and have a heart to heart with God. It might look a little odd to someone if they walked in, but it works. Of course, when she really needs to unwind from life’s stresses, nothing beats Hype Hop Dance Fitness. Imagine a circle of amazing women, music blasting and everyone dancing under the disco ball. Faith, friendship, and a little bungee fitness help restore her sanity.  

I asked Aja what she thought it would look like if Santa really did run out of duct tape and patience?” She laughed, “Oh, the North Pole would erupt in a glitter bomb meltdown of white fuzz and red velvet flying everywhere. Instead of a jolly “Ho, Ho, Ho,” you would more likely hear a creative string of four-letter words (peppered with a few “fa la las” for seasonal flare), and the elves would secretly clock out and pretend they saw nothing. You know Santa’s out of patience when he parks the sleigh, kicks up his feet, and declares, “I’m done. No talking. I’m watching football!” Honestly, I think if Santa had a superpower (besides infinite patience of course), I would vote for unlimited fun with a deeper wallet. After all, Santa Baby’s wish list isn’t getting any shorter. Who wouldn’t want the bling ring from Tiffanys, a blue convertible, or a loaded debit card?    

I followed up with, “If you could gift yourself anything this season, what would it be?” Spoiler Alert: Her response left me in tears. Aja smiled and said, “One more hug from my mom.” Adulthood has changed the holidays for me, and traditions might look a little different, but the magic isn’t gone, it’s just transformed. Aja fondly remembers her mom’s love for gaudy gold tinsel and those delicate gold ornaments that seemed to break if you looked at them wrong. Every year, her mom would bravely tackle the blinking Christmas lights battle. They weren’t supposed to blink and were on the verge of going out, but somehow they never did. “I’d give anything to walk into her house and see that over the top, glitzy décor just one more time.” Aja shared. While the holidays now bring a mix of nostalgia and new beginnings, Aja is committed to honoring those cherished memories and creating new ones. Even if the decorations are a bit sparse this year and the energy isn’t quite the same, Aja’s knows her “recharge rituals” like quiet moments and a dance session with friends will have her back in the holiday spirit in no time.   

“I have to say, the biggest lesson I’ve learned over the years is to show kindness to others. You never know what someone’s going through behind the scenes. We just need to forget the pressure of perfect; perfect presents, perfect houses, and/or perfect appearances. Recognize that sometimes, just surviving is enough, and that in itself truly deserves a round of applause. So my wish for everyone is to “be you, embrace the chaos, and give yourself credit for making it through another holiday season.” I like to remember the words to this song from Rudoph, “There’s always Tomorrow for Dreams to Come True.”

Meet Aja