'Twas a week before Christmas 'Twas a week before Christmas (December 19, 2003)

Santa comes to town for the ho-ho-holidays
by Teresa C. Brown

A long curving line of parents and children wrapped this way and that as everyone waited their turn to meet the jolly old bearded man wearing a curiously red jacket over pants held up by suspenders. With arguably one of the most famous faces in the world, Santa Claus sat nearby, smiling and waving to children young and old.

We could see Santa sitting in his gold-gilded chair; his flowing white beard and long hair looked like snow capping his velvet coat. Every once in a while, he would look up and catch sight of an innocent face peeking at him. With cherub cheeks and twinkling eyes, Santa's face would break into an infectious grin and he would wave a happy greeting. Or, to everyone's delight, the deep timbre of his "ho, ho, ho" would warmly reverberate throughout the courtyard.

I was one of the lucky ones, allowed to stand at the front of the line. Santa had agreed to talk to me between visiting with the children who came to see him while he was at Stoneridge Shopping Center.

As I watched from the side, some of the children eagerly ran up to him, while others cautiously waited for a parent to walk with them. Still yet others were curious but did not welcome leaving their parents' arms for St. Nick's.

Whether greeted with smiles or tears, he did not mind. Some children become very excited as they work their way up to the front of the line, he said, but just when they reach him, they get a little scared. After all, Santa pointed out, he is still a stranger.

For many, meeting Santa Claus has become a holiday tradition. And for Santa, it is a special time as well.

"There's a child in everyone," Santa said, adding that one of the best visits he had was when an 89-year-old man and his 78-year-old bride visited him, and later that same day, he held a 1-day-old baby. No one is too young or too old for St. Nicholas. "All of the children of the world, all ages, are Santa's kids," he said.

While waiting to meet children and their parents, Santa shared a few secrets with me. The best Christmas gift he has ever received is a bell. "Earlier this year, a little girl gave me a bell," he said showing me a big, fat silver bell hanging among smaller red ones on a ring. "I gave her one of mine," he added.

Speaking of gifts, just where does Santa keep all of those toys before Christmas? In Santa's warehouse, of course. "It's right beside Santa's workshop where they are made," he said. "But not all toys are made by Santa's elves," he added, explaining that the electronic toys are made by manufacturers.

Making the toys takes a lot of helping hands and Santa's elves stay busy hammering, sawing and building throughout the year. There are more than 2,000 elves, or at least that is where Santa stopped counting. And all of the elves live with him at North Pole. "There's a nice little city up there," he said.

I could not help but wonder if Santa, wearing his red and white-trimmed suit, had other Kris Kringle outfits he wore throughout the year. Santa said he has both a summer and a winter version of his suit. Today he was wearing his summer suit, "because it is too warm down here," he said with a laugh.

And yes, Santa does go on vacations, but children may not recognize him. He told me that he likes to visit someplace warm and he always goes incognito.

Most people remember all nine of Santa's reindeer; they are his pets, but don't ask him to choose between Rudolph, Donner, Dancer or Prancer or any of the others. "Santa can't play favorites," he said.

But he does name favorites for other things. "Here Comes Santa Claus" is his favorite song, and of all of the treats left for him, cookies are his favorite. "I have never found a cookie that I didn't like," he said.

With a laugh, Santa recalled one year when there was a television commercial about leaving cheese for him. That year, he said, boys and girls kept asking him what was his favorite cheese. (Like cookies, Santa loves all kinds of cheese.)

The hardest part about his job, Santa said, was meeting people who did not believe in him. He told me a story about a girl who did not believe he was Santa Claus. She was having her picture taken with him and as she was leaving, she grabbed a big handful of his beard and pulled hard on it, he said. Her eyes got as big as marbles when she realized that his beard was real.

Then Santa let me in on one of his greatest mysteries: how he manages to visit every home sometime between twilight on Christmas Eve and dawn. "I turn back time," he whispered.

And the day after Christmas, when the toys are delivered, his warehouse is empty, and the reindeer are snuggled back in their stable, how does Santa spend the day? "It's hard work turning back time," Santa said. With a wink of an eye and a tap to the nose, Santa softly answered, "Sleep."

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