Here Comes Santa Claus, Part 2
The second day of my portrayal of Santa Claus at Santaland, brought to you by several fine groups led by Revitalize Buffalo (Amy Maxwell) and the Western New York Coalition for Progress (Alan Bedenko) went a lot like the first day, with mostly great kids and several annoying parents.
The main difference was the major increase in children and families attending Santaland and giving me their Chirstmas/holiday gift lists. Not only did we have about double the number of children that attended Saturday come through on Sunday, but I noticed that many more came in packs, um, family groups.
Some families chose to come up one child at a time, something that made sense to me unless one of the children was very young and needed an older child or parent with them. But a good number walked up to me all at once; two or even three children is OK, but when it got to five and six children at a time, you almost always had some children fighting, one crying and pretty much none of them listening to you.
But you never get impatient, or at least show your impatience, and just keep remembering that Santaland, and for the most part Christmas aside from the actual religious component, is for the children, and for the kids to enjoy themselves. You learn quickly just how serious some children take Santa, or someone like me (very tall, etc.) playing Santa, and the general presence of someone who has so much power in granting them their gift wishes and how scared some children become. You also find out how stupid some parents are in forcing their children to go up when they are scared; this includes the occasional parent who actually starts yelling at their child when they are scared. Yeah; ho, ho, ho, you insensitive morons.
But these few bad parents don't stop you from performing your Santa duties, and the smiles you see in the children's faces make it more than worthwhile. Even the 10 or so meltdowns Val counted Sunday didn't get us down.
I will be playing Santa Claus one more day, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, December 14, with a special guest portraying Santa from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday. One tip if you are attending Santaland Sunday; last week, the largest crowds of people started arriving in the late morning, possibly just after Mass around 11 a.m., and the attendance started waning after 3 p.m. With the Bills playing at home at 1 p.m. Sunday, this may complicate things.
The main difference was the major increase in children and families attending Santaland and giving me their Chirstmas/holiday gift lists. Not only did we have about double the number of children that attended Saturday come through on Sunday, but I noticed that many more came in packs, um, family groups.
Some families chose to come up one child at a time, something that made sense to me unless one of the children was very young and needed an older child or parent with them. But a good number walked up to me all at once; two or even three children is OK, but when it got to five and six children at a time, you almost always had some children fighting, one crying and pretty much none of them listening to you.
But you never get impatient, or at least show your impatience, and just keep remembering that Santaland, and for the most part Christmas aside from the actual religious component, is for the children, and for the kids to enjoy themselves. You learn quickly just how serious some children take Santa, or someone like me (very tall, etc.) playing Santa, and the general presence of someone who has so much power in granting them their gift wishes and how scared some children become. You also find out how stupid some parents are in forcing their children to go up when they are scared; this includes the occasional parent who actually starts yelling at their child when they are scared. Yeah; ho, ho, ho, you insensitive morons.
But these few bad parents don't stop you from performing your Santa duties, and the smiles you see in the children's faces make it more than worthwhile. Even the 10 or so meltdowns Val counted Sunday didn't get us down.
I will be playing Santa Claus one more day, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, December 14, with a special guest portraying Santa from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday. One tip if you are attending Santaland Sunday; last week, the largest crowds of people started arriving in the late morning, possibly just after Mass around 11 a.m., and the attendance started waning after 3 p.m. With the Bills playing at home at 1 p.m. Sunday, this may complicate things.
posted by val at 10:09 PM
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