In the city of Manhattan Beach, during December, a float adorned with Christmas decorations carrying jolly old Saint Nick rolls through the streets visiting the boys and girls. The float stops in the middle of each block and the children line up to tell Santa Claus what they would like to find under the tree.
For eleven of the past twelve years, I have been Santa Claus.
One year, we got rained out or I'd be rocking a solid dozen years in a row.
When I was a junior in high school, my mom's service organization was in charge of the float. As an all-women club, one of the husbands was going to be Santa. He called in sick. That's when I got the call to step in and I've been doing it ever since.
Over the years, I've gotten pretty good at this gig. There's more to it than just the "ho ho ho;" you have to really engage the kids. If they ask for a toy dinosaur, ask them which dinosaur is their favorite. If they are wearing a soccer jersey, ask them what position they play. Use their name when speaking to them. Kids like to feel as though adults value what they are saying and there may be no adult whose attention they value more than Santa Claus.
The ultimate payoff to being Santa for all this time was clear: one day, I would be Santa for my friends' children. How awesome would that be? I would know their name in advance, I would be able to talk to them about things in their life... it would be like meeting the real Santa for them! Well, I got my first chance to do this and you can pretty much see how it turned out in the picture above.
The lesson, as always, is: I scare children.
