Exit Santa, Stage Left
I completed my run as Santa Claus at Santaland Saturday, December 16, with a 6-hour performance with barely an intermission, due to the large number of children and parents in attendance, apparently more than either of the two days I played Santa last week.
My last day as Santa was without Val, because she was back to her horrible overnight work shift and fast asleep during my final shift in the red suit and white hair and beard; I did receive the help of two elf/red and green-clad helpers from 10 a.m.-1 p.m., both females and seemingly high school students or college freshmen. They were very good with the children and parents, but barely spoke to Santa; this Santa was familiar with not being talked to by high school females about 30 years ago and knew the drill. Christa Vidaver of the Western New York Coalition for Progress acted as my helper for the second half of Saturday, and was much more friendly to me.
One of the funniest (to me) visits to Santa occurred this past Saturday. A girl sat on my lap and told me of a couple presents she wanted for Christmas, but seemed to be holding something back. After I twice asked her if there was anything else she wanted, she looked at me and in a hushed tone said, "there is one other present, Santa, but it is kind of an adult present and not a toy. I don't know if you know what it is." I had no idea what she was getting at, so I told her to ask me, because my elves could make anything. "It's a foosball table, Santa. Do you know what that is?"
Once again, the children's wear consisted of a lot of Buffalo Sabres clothing, from hats and jerseys to sweaters, sweatshirts and t-shirts, and more Buffalo Bills clothing than last week. Parents seemed to follow in the pattern of the children, except for one standout, a man who wore a black leather jacket with a large red "W" on the front that I immediately, and happily, recognized as the University of Wisconsin insignia; the back of his jacket bore the words "Wisconsin Badgers" with a large, striding Bucky Badger, the school mascot, in the middle. Being a Wisconsin fan, I remarked to him (his children had already dashed off, candy canes in hand) that I liked his jacket. "Thanks; you brought it to me last year," he replied with a smile.
It was kind of sad when the day ended and I took off the Santa Claus costume for the last time, with someone else (a surprise Santa I'm not certain the identity of who has been revealed to too many yet) portraying Santa Sunday. It was a lot of fun seeing how much so many of the children enjoyed visiting and taking to Santa, even with the occasional meltdown and the other times the children just refused to come up to talk to Santa. The approaches the children took, from very business like to fawning to nervous and innocent of the whole asking for gifts situation, were interesting, and even more interesting was how the children handled and approached these situations.
I thank Amy Maxwell and Revitalize Buffalo and Alan Bedenko and the Western New York Coalition for Progress for not only giving me the chance to be Santa and to feel a bit different and better about myself for a short time this holiday season, but for decisively and selflessly acting to take on a problem and turn it into not only an opportunity, but for giving children another reason to be just that, children, and to enjoy themselves this holiday season. I may have received a lot of attention in the Buffalo News and on various television stations and web sites during this event, but that is simply because I portrayed Santa and was in the limelight. Amy, Alan, Christa and all of the people they worked with and represent are the true heroes and really deserve a lot of credit.
But after this year, I can truly say, with new conviction, ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas, as well as Happy Holidays to all.
My last day as Santa was without Val, because she was back to her horrible overnight work shift and fast asleep during my final shift in the red suit and white hair and beard; I did receive the help of two elf/red and green-clad helpers from 10 a.m.-1 p.m., both females and seemingly high school students or college freshmen. They were very good with the children and parents, but barely spoke to Santa; this Santa was familiar with not being talked to by high school females about 30 years ago and knew the drill. Christa Vidaver of the Western New York Coalition for Progress acted as my helper for the second half of Saturday, and was much more friendly to me.
One of the funniest (to me) visits to Santa occurred this past Saturday. A girl sat on my lap and told me of a couple presents she wanted for Christmas, but seemed to be holding something back. After I twice asked her if there was anything else she wanted, she looked at me and in a hushed tone said, "there is one other present, Santa, but it is kind of an adult present and not a toy. I don't know if you know what it is." I had no idea what she was getting at, so I told her to ask me, because my elves could make anything. "It's a foosball table, Santa. Do you know what that is?"
Once again, the children's wear consisted of a lot of Buffalo Sabres clothing, from hats and jerseys to sweaters, sweatshirts and t-shirts, and more Buffalo Bills clothing than last week. Parents seemed to follow in the pattern of the children, except for one standout, a man who wore a black leather jacket with a large red "W" on the front that I immediately, and happily, recognized as the University of Wisconsin insignia; the back of his jacket bore the words "Wisconsin Badgers" with a large, striding Bucky Badger, the school mascot, in the middle. Being a Wisconsin fan, I remarked to him (his children had already dashed off, candy canes in hand) that I liked his jacket. "Thanks; you brought it to me last year," he replied with a smile.
It was kind of sad when the day ended and I took off the Santa Claus costume for the last time, with someone else (a surprise Santa I'm not certain the identity of who has been revealed to too many yet) portraying Santa Sunday. It was a lot of fun seeing how much so many of the children enjoyed visiting and taking to Santa, even with the occasional meltdown and the other times the children just refused to come up to talk to Santa. The approaches the children took, from very business like to fawning to nervous and innocent of the whole asking for gifts situation, were interesting, and even more interesting was how the children handled and approached these situations.
I thank Amy Maxwell and Revitalize Buffalo and Alan Bedenko and the Western New York Coalition for Progress for not only giving me the chance to be Santa and to feel a bit different and better about myself for a short time this holiday season, but for decisively and selflessly acting to take on a problem and turn it into not only an opportunity, but for giving children another reason to be just that, children, and to enjoy themselves this holiday season. I may have received a lot of attention in the Buffalo News and on various television stations and web sites during this event, but that is simply because I portrayed Santa and was in the limelight. Amy, Alan, Christa and all of the people they worked with and represent are the true heroes and really deserve a lot of credit.
But after this year, I can truly say, with new conviction, ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas, as well as Happy Holidays to all.
posted by val at 10:22 PM
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