December 16, 2018

To continue the account of Santa’s weekend:  my next stop on Saturday was The Christmas Shop, which is a great place for the kids to come in and visit Santa and get an ornament for their tree!  Had one little girl who kept repeating, Jump, cook, paint!  Jump, cook, paint! Jump, cook, paint!  Finally her Dad explained it to me.  She wants a trampoline, a toy kitchen, and an art set!  Then there was the little guy who was wearing a hoodie with a shark fin that was asking for a shark for Christmas. And then this little guy in yellow walked in!

Full Pikachu outfit and rubber duck boots!  There was also a request for a cotton candy maker and another cart for a hover board!  Now just because I haven’t mentioned it doesn’t mean Santa wasn’t getting requests for baby dolls and Legos, because those were coming in all the time!  Another young man asked for a hatchet and a bargain barn, never did find out what that was!

Sunday started with my last trip to Bluewater this year, another favorite venue of mine!  There were lots of kids already waiting for Santa when I got there.  So I started off by going around the entire room and greeting all the little ones!  There were two little girls who just made my day.  They were both so great, wanting to talk to Santa and give him a hug, and color a picture for him.  I’m including a picture one of them

I will scan into the computer some of her art work!

And her Grandpa, who is a very natty dresser.

There was a request for 2 bean bag chairs, several dinosaurs, and a longboard.  Then there was the fellow that asked for a new motorcycle because he ran his old one into a pole!

After Blue Water Santa made a home visit to two of his favorite little girls who show him love all year round!  Their cousins were also there so we had a great time with their younger sister and cousins.  It was truly a marvelous day for Santa and it was great to feel all of the love flowing around about!  That love is the true spirit of Christmas  IMHO!

December 15, 2018

What a great day! If you can be surrounded by love all day long and know it, I don’t know what could be better! That was my experience today, I felt love all around me throughout the day, but let’s back up a bit and get to today first. Thursday I helped the Infinity dance troupe with their fundraiser, and I'm including a picture of something I saw on their wall.  Then on Friday I worked a party for a friend, Saturday started with Ms. Sam’s fundraiser for Mane & Tail at BK Shucker’s starting at 8am. BTW that place is 45 minutes from my house so that was an early call to be dressed and on the road by 7:15! One of the best parts about doing multi-years of the same event (this was my 4th time for this one) is that you get to see the little ones grow up. There was one family where I remember working on this one little girl for a long time(she was about 2) now she is the elder stateswoman of the family and the youngest was the challenge!
Some interesting requests over the week, One was fuzzy socks. A little guy wanted a “digger” There were a lot of sports in the requests, football, basketball and basketball goal because he broke his old one! Animals were also big on the list: someone asked for a duck! And some chips! A kitty was requested and a horse and a cart for her hover board! One little guy wanted some teeth and he needed them! I will be finishing this post tomorrow but I’m really beat right now. I just had to share what a wonderful day today was for Santa!

Dec 12, 2018

Santa is done for the day, at least the fully costumed version of this old body.  I am working a 4:30-8:30 shift at The Avenue tonight where I will be wearing red of course!  This morning started at Manteo Post Office for Santa's yearly picture with the staff there, No, Bill Black, they weren't taking my picture for a wanted poster for the post office!  Then it was off to The Dare County Center for breakfast with Santa and a group of preschoolers!  They were , as you can imagine bundles of energy.  When we were gathering them all together for a group picture I likened it to herding cats in a thunderstorm!  But they were also a lot of fun.  There were several requests for Monster Trucks and Dinosaurs of numerous varieties!  We got everyone in for a picture of some type! One little guy when he was leaving Santa walked really slow because he didn't want to go.  Ben, a special friend of Santa from Miss Sam's room stopped in to say hi!  And Santa's favorite today was the little girl who asked if I would bring her a crown next week!  Of course I asked what the crown was for and she replied, "So I can be a princess!"  When asked which one she said "Cinderella!"  And that's the latest from here, Folks, have a great day!

December 11, 2018

Lest you think Santa has been loafing, I want you to know  he has had 5 appearances since Sunday night. The last was for the Hospital's party at the Elizabethan Gardens , which were lovely decorated again this year! This event is another favorite of mine and I think we had a lot more kids than last year! There were a few unusual requests that I have to share with you. One little girl asked for a unicorn stable, I guess they have taller doors to accommodate the horn! There was another request for a sewing machine and this little lady wants to design and make clothes, Look out, Ladies of the costume shop, here comes the younger generation!

There were a couple of very specific requests, one young fellow wanted his very own hammer and another asked for Lego Train set #9012! There was also a request for a turtle and one little one was very careful to tell me that it was a toy dinosaur she wanted because she didn't have room for a live one! One young lady asked for peace and joy for her whole family and all her friends! The last one I'm going to share is the little girl that wanted a wallet so she could give it to her Dad because all he had was a rubber band! And that's the latest from Santa's lap!

Pictures from the week Dec2-9

Requests from Dec 7-9

    Back again!  After a weekend when I wore the big red suit a total of 20 hours I have a few requests and comments to relate.  Probably the most requested item over the whole weekend was Legos.  Boys and girls want Legos this year, specific sets and just Legos!  Baby dolls were popular, especially LOL dolls!  Scooters and dirt bikes came up pretty often.  The most popular electronic item is the Nintendo Switch but let's talk about the more unusual requests.  My costumer friends will be glad to know I had two separate little girls ask for sewing machines!  Then there was the little boy who wanted a shotgun, a cap gun and handcuffs!  Not sure what he is going after but watch out!  Two Moms came up to me out of earshot of the kids and one asked for World Peace and some really cute shoes!  The other wanted new underwear!

    Had one little guy come up and he was so sad because he had accidentally touched his elf, which of course makes the elf lose their magic.  So after he apologized  I had his Mom hold up her had and I gave her the magic to bring the elf back!   

Lest you think all children think only of themselves, on two separate occasion I had something happen that boosted my faith in this next generation.  One little girl only wanted one thing and that was that her brother not get cancer anymore!  Another little one asked for toys for all the kids that weren't going to get any this year. . . wise beyond her years, she was!

    Mermaids and unicorns are popular this year, in fact one little girl asked for something that was a combination of the two!  One little one wanted a unicorn to ride and another wanted a remote control unicorn, while another request was for a mermaid with wings that could swim.  Not sure about that one!  And one asked for a unicorn and a rabbit as a pet!

    There was one little boy who had several cars on his list, including a Zebra car but his most unusual request was a watermelon.  When I asked what his was going to do with a watermelon he said, "Smash it with a hammer!"  To each his own, I guess!  Another wanted a giant stuffed Blue dog! and a recorder, because he wanted to learn how to play it!  One little girl wanted a new dress and her sister wanted a football!

    I want to close by telling you about a little girl about seven who came to sit on my lap.  I will usually tell the kids that I like their dress, or sweater or shirt, if they are wearing something special!  She was wearing a gorgeous long dress and I told her how pretty it was.  She explained to me that she tried to dress like she thought Ms. Claus would dressed.  I told her that was a very nice of her and Mrs. Claus would have been proud of her.  That was the biggest smile I saw all night!  I am so glad I get to gladden the hearts of so many kids.  I probably saw between 4 and 500 kids this weekend.  So that's the latest from Santa's Lap!

December 9, 2018

OK, here's a short description of Santa's day! It all started at Blue Water Grill at 1. When I walked in there were already at least half a dozen kids present so I circulated and told each one to come see me at my chair by the tree and tell me what they wanted for Christmas! And before they left each one of them did stop for pictures and conversation! All of that group did come sit on my lap! I did have time to visit the lovely Brittany at the Silver Bonzai shop which is located in Blue Water temporarily!

Now's a good time to explain what I have observed about the refusal of children to come to Santa. I can almost always tell when a child first appears what the result is going to be, not that I don't get surprised sometimes! First there are the ones that come running up to me, then there are those that come in kicking and screaming and I know if there is a picture to be taken it will be one with the little one crying! Then there is the large number that fall somewhere in-between those extremes! I have learned a number of tricks to get them to come to me but mostly I just act like I'm interested in them and I what to hear what they have to tell me. I know I have said this before but it has been my experience that between 11 months and 2 1/2 it is a 50/50 shot whether they re going to cry! And with boys it is probably 60/40 slanted towards refusal! Today I had about 4 real successes, one was a little girl that her Mom said it was 4 years in the making!!!

Next stop for Santa was the Christmas Shop which is one of the best locations for kids. You see they give each child that visits Santa a gift bag containing an ornament, a candy cane and a toy. Pretty nice swag for visiting the fat guy in the red suit! We had several nice family groups and one of those screamers I told you about! She didn't even want to come in the room, I knew she was never going to sit on my lap!

    After this Santa had to brave the storm and travel up to Kitty Hawk UMC for a visit! "The weather outside was frightful" Santa read the assembled children about the reason we give presents at Christmas! Had some really delightful children tonight there including some I had seen when I visited the daycare there. After grabbing a few cookies Santa was off!

    Then back into the rain to Faith Baptist in Manteo, to see some of my favorite children, some of whom have grown into teenagers! You can see some of these pictures here also. Finally Santa was able to go home and get out of the storm with some fried chicken and potato salad for supper! A bonus was the schools are on a 3 hour delay tomorrow so I'm sleeping in! Good Night!