Children gather and visit with Old St. Nick during brunch at Grill
If you were expecting Barbie and other girly stuff, well, you just sliced into the other fairway.
Santa himself found that out Sunday at the Pines Country Club, when 5-year-old, identical twin sisters Avery and Alaina Rocco posed for a picture.
We’ll get to that.
In the meantime, the occasion was the annual Brunch with Santa gathering at the Clubhouse Grill there.
Longtime Morgantown restaurateur Mike Forte, who co-owns the Grill with GiGi Lee, said the idea was to bring the Big Guy down from the North Pole to Morgantown for an early holiday appearance.
If Forte’s name sounds familiar, that means you likely remember him as the business wunderkind who founded the Boston Beanery restaurant chain here.
That was back in 1983, when he was just 23 years old.
And, if you like to play golf, you’ve no doubt heard a Forte deadpanned one-liner detailing his prowess (or lack thereof) in the game he loves.
We’ll get to that, too.
Sunday’s brunch at the Pines had more twists and turns than the No. 14 green at Augusta.
Eggs, bacon and sausage.
Prime rib, clam strips and beef barbecue.
Waffles, cookies and strawberries.
All that, plus crafts for the youngsters and a free, professional portrait with Santa to remember the day.
Kids sat with their parents, and grandparents were in the gallery, also. Such as tour rookie Darialouise Collins, who was proudly showing off 3-month-old, Collins Loren Callen, her first grandchild.
“Christmas is going to be big,” the new grandmother said, while Collins smiled and burbled.
“I’d tell you what Santa is bringing, but she might be listening.”
Avery, Alaina — and archery
Listening, of course, was part of the deal.
As part of the photograph, Santa had a brief consult with the wish-list for every youngster who sidled up.
Avery and Alaina, who came out to the club with their aunt, Christina McCluskey, made their address with nary a flinch.
“So,” Santa ventured, “what do you young ladies want for Christmas?”
“I want a bow and arrow,” Avery said.
“Seriously?” came Santa’s arched-eyebrow reply.
“I want a book with pictures from when I was born,” Alaina said. “And a bow and arrow.”
“Well, Santa wasn’t expecting a bow and arrow, but he’s going to write that down,” the man with the beard said, referring to himself in the third person (because, well, he’s Santa).
Of Santa, and sand traps
Meanwhile, on the 50-degree Sunday, handfuls of groups outside were taking advantage of the temperature to tee off — because, well, it’s the Pines Country Club.
While Santa, of course, loves Christmas and all his pre-Dec. 24th personal appearances, he’s also a scratch-golfer who said he’s looking forward to hitting the links after the holiday rush.
Golf architect Edmund Ault, whose design portfolio also includes the course at the Las Vegas Country Club, mapped out The Pines in 1968.
What was once a wooded expanse on Point Marion Road became a championship, 18-hole offering that conforms to Appalachian contours, and all the golf challenges contained therein.
In the meantime, Sunday’s guest of honor modestly allowed that while his tee-shot is respectable, his game with the irons is even better.
“Santa knows how to hit a wedge,” Santa said.
In response, Forte laughed and said his golf game gets colder than the North Pole, if he doesn’t watch.
His game can be so bad, he once famously quipped, that he actually had to put a new grip on the ball retriever in his golf bag.
The old one simply wore out, from excessive use.
For you non-duffers out there, a retriever is the nifty, ergonomic, club-looking device used to scoop errant Titleists out of water hazards.
