Finishing up Christmas 2013

Well, the Santa suits, hats, belts, boots and extras are all packed away in the storage unit for their long summer nap! Up to 9 different suits now and each has its own characteristics, some need more padding, some are cooler for use in warm weather, some are for special use only! And since all is put away it is time to do the this year's last entry for Santa's diary. 

 

December 24, 2013
It was the day before Christmas and all through the website, everyone was stirring! It was my last day on the Hello Santa line and it looked to be a very busy day. This was a very accurate prediction because, during my 5 hours online I had 79 calls, which meant I talked with 170+ children in that time! This total included 12 from Great Britain and one each from Anchorage, AL, ...Canada, Puerto Rico, Northern Ireland, and Germany! Didn't really have any problems understanding any of the children.
X-Boxes were a favorite request worldwide, and Santa did have one little girl who wanted a football, and it was not a soccer ball she was talking about!
The typical reaction that happens when the system connects is, "He's real!" Most of the children will talk to Santa and we end up having a conversation about being good and how they need to help their Mom because it is a real busy time for her. And some still can't come up with what they want so we usually decide that surprises are nice also. Then I tell them that I will see them, AFTER they are asleep!
The one thing I have missed is the tactile part of being with the children, because this Santa loves a good hug! I did get my fix last Friday night at the Elizabethan Gardens, I volunteered to serve hot chocolate during one night of their light show, as long as I could wear my Santa hat! So my uniform was that hat, red sweater and black pants. Now remember it was two days after Christmas but there were at least a dozen children that were convinced they got their hot chocolate from Santa! An ol' Santa would get his hug! My favorite was the two little twin girls, hardly more than toddlers, dressed in white parkas! As soon as they came in the door, one shouted, "SANTA!" and ran as fast as her little legs would go to give me a hug! So I bent down and picked one up in each arm and let Mom take all the pictures she wanted! How can you not love this job!

 Til next year: Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night!

December 20, 2013

December 20, 2013

OK, for the latest Santa update I'm going to take you through a day on the "Hello Santa" line. I operate out of the front room, which means the backdrop bisects the room and banishes Mary to the bedroom or all the stores on the Outer Banks! So far this week she has had to fill up the car with gas twice, and its only Monday!
Anyway, backdrop down, Santa hat and coat on, gloves ready, I sign into the site we operate out of about 3 minutes before 11, or 8 PST. I take a quick peek at the reservations and see that it looks to be nonstop again today. Yesterday in my 4 hour shift, the longest time I had between calls was 45 seconds! So today I decided to keep track of the calls and where they came from, I had previously talked to the United Kingdom, Canada, and Sri Lanka. I think we had three of us fielding calls today which does help a bit when you have 6 calls come in at one time. We try to limit the calls to 3 minutes or so.
The calls came in at a steady pace but not quite as hectic as yesterday, I at least had a chance to catch my breathe between calls and sip some water. Today I worked 4 hours, took an hour off and worked another hour. In the 5 hours I was on the line I took 62 calls, talked to 80+ children, and spoke to people from the United Kingdom 4 times, Mexico 3 times and the following countries once each, Canada, Puerto Rico, Norway and New Zealand. I felt like I was hosting the United Nations in our living room! There were a couple of interesting requests, one boy wanted a rat, a toy rat he was quick to add. When I asked what he was going to do with it, he said he wanted to sleep with it! To each, his own! The other unusual request was the little girl from Puerto Rico, who wants a trampoline and a piano! Her Mom was sitting there and I saw her expression when "Piano" came out of the little girl's mouth. So I immediately explained the hardship of getting a piano in the bag and on the sleigh, so she agreed that maybe a keyboard in the near future would be a good start! And that's the latest from Santa's lap!

This was the nicest list I received this year! 

December 11, 2013

Santa was at Kitty Hawk Elementary
school today. Many requests that were all over the place: for example, A jet ski, an Easy bake oven, a Dinosaur , and A shark tooth kit?
Then there were Girl Legos( pink and purple),Good Transformers, as a posed to bad ones, A stuffed bunny, and a Castle, complete with knights. I was also asked for a 4 wheeler and a PC, "That's a Personal Computer, Santa"

There were some interesting questions that came up, such as: How many elves do you have? Well, Santa has learned to think quickly, so I turned it around and asked the child, "Do you know how many grains of sand there are on the beach?" (we do live on the Outer Banks, after all) Of course she didn't know the answer, so I explained there are so many elves that I can't keep count. Then Santa was asked, "Whose your favorite reindeer?" So I came up with the Deer of the Month Club, where Santa chooses one deer who gets his picture put up inside the barn. Donder(that is NOT a misspelling) was last month's choice with Rudolph the month before and I haven't chosen this months deer yet! That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Since this was an elementary school there were pictures on all the walls and one teacher had given the assignment: "What would I give Santa?"

The results were posted on the wall.  Here are some of them:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 December 12, 2013
The day started at the Dare Center where I shared lunch with the Seniors Group, a fine bunch of folks who are all much younger than their years! There was even a couple from our church who didn't recognize me!

Then it was on to Kitty Hawk Elementary where one young lad wanted a Penny board which is not a board you put pennies in, it's a skate board Another fellow wanted a Pet... Parrot, I explained that they live a long time but he decided he still wanted it! There was a request for a tree house and also a dollhouse. One little girl wanted another doll baby to go with the 10 she has now! There were several lists that had Lego sets on them, and one American Girl Doll! Someone else wanted some Pokémon cards, X Y, please!
At this point Santa went down to visit the after school group, mostly 4 & 5 year olds who had been coloring pictures of Santa's elves! After I went around the room making physical contact with each child. I find that age group to be a very tactile group! Then I walked over to where the pictures were posted and after looking at them for a moment, I walked up and pointed at one and said, "Hey that guy works at the North Pole(short pause) so does that one . . . and that one, and that one! Wait a minute all these guys are in my workshop!" Needless to say that was a hit with the wee ones!
One little guy just wanted clear connectors for the bracelets he made.
Now every once in a while you get a request that is so unusual that Santa hasn't heard it before, this time it was a little girl about 5 who wanted . . . A HARP!
Finally, it is such a treat to get children that are thinking beyond themselves: the first was a little girl who asked for a big box of Teddy's to share with her friends with one for her! The second was a young lady who asked for " Some one direction stuff, rubber bands, and for everyone to have a good Christmas!"

   

 

 

Sunday, December 8, 2013
         Busy day today lots of kids(60+) at the Christmas a Shop Only one unusual request, a Hedgehog!  There was also a dinosaur wish and a little girl that wanted a drum set. Had a little guy that wanted a keyboard but he changed this midway though his request and decided he wanted a violin Santa was presented with a lovely poster, which I will share with you. It came from the daughter of Santa's favorite banker! 
            Sundays are always fun because it seems everybody is dressed up and all the children look so nice. There was one little guy in a vest and bow tie. He looked fabulous! And all the little girls in their nice dresses!
            After the Christmas Shop, Santa helped with an annual event for the Friends of Youth which is always fun; high energy, lots of love, and a great bunch of kids and caring adults! There were some rather off-the-wall requests from some of the Tweens, most notable was a purple unicorn in a Porsche! But just a great group, Santa got lots of hugs and saw some of his favorite elves!
               After a short break for supper Santa had a three hour shift on the computer for Hello Santa, a new app for the iPhone and they have a site on FaceBook too. I handled several calls and had a chance for some face time with some children from different parts of the country. All in all it was a rather long, but fulfilling day for Santa!

This will be a combined entry from the Weekend events in Downtown Manteo

 

Friday Night, December 6, 2013    Tree Lighting @ Downtown Manteo

 

 

Santa started about 6:10 tonight.  I wanted to give the performance going on onstage a chance to get started before I snuck in!  There was a back entrance and I managed to come in and I was only stopped 3 times for pictures.  Santa appeared on the upper balcony, think Outer above if your from OSF, and signaled the lighting of the tree.  Then I had 103+ kids in an hour and a half, so I wasn't able to take any notes, thus this is what I remember!
 

Several American girl dolls, all Sage! Couple of Barbies, one Ken and 1 mermaid.  And something new, to this Santa anyway, Several requests for Monster High Houses!Little girl wanted a dinosaur, and she was very certain it had to be a brontosaurus to be specific!Girl wanted a box of fake spiders, to scare her sister with.  I was reminded of the little girl, a couple of years ago, that wanted a box of bugs!Two sisters each of whom wanted an easy bake oven, their  third sister wanted a dirt bike!

 One request for a tractor, green, I said, "John Deere, all they do is run" and Dad about fell over!

Little boy with a list, item #6 - 1,000 Bay Blades, which reminded me of the time I gave David 40 Bay Blades for Christmas!  Anyway that was item #6 for this young lad and #3 was a new TV, you see he had "fixed " his old TV! We had a tiny girl who would only hug my arm, no closer!Another wee one who told me I had a moustache! Really!

A young girl wanted her Dad to come home for Christmas Eve and another girl wanted to spend Christmas with her friends and family

Another little guy wanted some scientific stuff. I asked if he was going to blow the house up, but he said he would use them outside!The Guinea Pig Girl was back and the boy who wanted a pogo stick.  Manteo is a small town, after all!

 

 

 

 

Saturday, December 7th, @ Manteo Boathose

 

 

Well, that was a bit of a bummer, bad weather forced the cancelling of the parade, consequently, we did not have many come downtown for pictures. We did have some really sweet kids come tho!

One little girl who was a Downs syndrome child, I believe, she was so sweet!  After the picture as sh started to walk away I motioned for her to come back and I told her I needed a hug, so she squeezed me real tight and said, "I love you, Santa!"  I said, "I love you too, Sweetheart!"  Santa had to take a moment to wipe his eyes then!

 The  little girl in the picture wanted a guitar, then two brothers came in and sat on Santa's lap...and the chair broke! I heard it crack when the second sat down but it didn't separate completely, so we finished the photo and Santa heard they both wanted dirt bikes. Then I got up and the seat in front was completely broken so we put in a second string chair, a rocker, very beachlike!

 

You know Santa has heard a lot of requests, so it takes a lot to surprise him, but I had one today that I hadn't heard before. A little girl came in and started to tell me what her heart's desires were: a doll baby, a bike, and . . a picture of a squirrel! Her Dad had such an astonished look on his face! 

 

 Helicopters, the remote control type(one step down from a drone) were very popular today, even had a little girl wanting one. Another little lady wanted a Hot Wheels racing car maker and some Hot Wheel Racers, too! A little boy wanted a fish, any fish, he wasn't particular!

 Finally I had a little girl who wanted a helmet for her doll so she could go horse-back riding, the doll, not the girl!

Sunday, December 1, 2013
Second day of "A Weekend with Santa"
Lots of requests for American Girl dolls today but not Sage
Had one little 4 year old boy whose cousin told him Santa wasn't real. But after a conversation with the real Santa he was a true believer again! Next up on Santa's lap were a pair of twins about 3 years old. The boy wanted a blue Jeep, the girl wanted a red one. They wer...e going to race them!
Next were two little boys, one would not smile for anything, I tried to get him to say cheeseburger, then peanut butter. Nothing worked. Finally he says how about saying "starfish". Sure I said. . .still no smile! He never did smile!
Another little guy wanted Legos and when I asked him what he had built, he told me he had made a sleigh like Santa's, red!
Had a little one about 9/10 months, on the cusp of the 50/50 group( you know the age group where it is 50/50 if they will cry) Very pretty little girl in a white dress, black trim, extremely solemn, but we did get a couple of shots of her with a smile, including one where she just about flew out of my arms!Several children that wanted surprises I told them Santa is good at surprises!
Had an older girl about 12 come and sit beside me, at her Mother's insistence! She wanted a Guinea Pig, but the complication was she already had a cat. I did tell her that live animals had to have Mom's approval because Mom frequently ends up taking care of it!
Her second choice was a trip to NYC to visit some fashion designers. I told her Santa knows some costume designers!
The most unusual of the day had to be the little girl who wanted a doll baby with beads in it?
This is a little short because we didn't have a lot of business today.  Santa did get a picture or two with the elves which I will post a little later!

 

Saturday, November 30, 2013 
At 108 Budleigh, Manteo, NC
First day of "A Weekend with Santa"
   The first children to appear were 2 little blond girls.  The first wanted a Rainbow and she liked ALL the colors. The second, about 3, wanted purple PEAS and she was positive that was what she wanted! She was also reluctant to get on Santa's lap but she eventually succumbed to his charming ways!
   They seem to be coming in twos today.  Next were two little brunettes, both into animals. The first wanted a real chameleon, a toy deer, a leopard, and a tiger. The other one wanted a kitty, a puppy, a Barbie and a castle, Barbie Castle of course!
   Lots of Barbie requests and a little boy that wanted a flame guitar Then we had a Pogo stick for a shy little  fellow.  I told him he needed a helmet to go with it,  no Problem, he was ok with that.
Next was a Rolling chair for an older girl because  she has one but it just sits there. She also wanted an American girl doll.  She wasn't sure which one, maybe Sage but since she is the 2013 American Girl doll, she is old & almost done.  Decisions, Decisions, Decisions!
   And there was a question I had NEVER been asked "Do you get many Trick or Treaters at your place at the North Pole?" from a 4/5 year old girl!
There was also a first in gift requests, a little girl asked for a violin. She said she had played a guitar, but she wanted to learn to play the violin. Next was the Boy who wanted cash, iPod 5 or 6. whichever #, A Wii and a better pool.  "What's wrong with the pool you have?", I asked.  The boy answered as if to say it's obvious, "The waters too cold!"
   Had another little guy ask for a guitar and a little girl wanted one so she could learn to play hip hop music!  The last requests of the day were the fellow who asked for multi-colored candy canes and the young big-eyed  blond who wanted a real diamond, "a big one!"  I didn't feel I should tell her that was  no doubt coming about 15-20 years in the future!
   The picture following is a poster I got from the little girl who asked about how many Trick or Treaters we had at the North Pole.  I think Halloween is still on her mind!

To continue the first day, there were the usual assorted wishes again, many of the girls wanted easy bake ovens and baby dolls, including one who wanted a baby baby doll! Many of the boys wanted race cars, but one wanted a goose duck call!( I'm not sure what a goose duck is tho!) One little girl did comment that I was a pretty skinny Santa, so I told her I had been working out...and I have, twice a week...most weeks, anyway!
The best list I saw was the little girl who wanted a ninja suit and num chucks! Oh and she also wanted an easy bakery! One little girl wanted a flying fairy and another wanted a pet shop! I couldn't make these up, Folks! And that's the latest from Santa's lap!
Oops, I almost forgot, as we were getting to the end, a group of ladies came in (All over 40) and a couple of them asked if they could sit on my lap. Of course I said yes, Santa refuses no one! While the picture was being taken, one of the ladies said they were members of the Retired Strippers Club. Well, Santa is seldom at a loss for words so I asked. "Why retired?"

 

Here are the first two lists Santa received:

 

Well, first time in the red suit for 2013 today. Had about 100 kids in 3 hours at Belk. Because it had been advertised they were doing free pictures, many of the kids came dressed in their Christmas finest. It was great to see all the little girls in their bright red dresses and the little boys in Christmas sweaters. One of my favorites was the two sisters who came in all dressed up and immediately after having their picture taken left the store. A couple of minutes later they came back in and their Mom explained, they had to go change into their flip-flops! 

Here is a beautifully colored picture presented to Santa today!