This week’s spotlight is on Santa Claus, Santa took a moment to stop by The Press and Standard to give us an interview before his busy weekend here in Walterboro.
Santa has made numerous appearances around town, including the Christmas Parades, Polar Express, Shop with Heroes, riding the fire truck for the Walterboro drive around town and many other appearances in the area.
We asked Santa how he can make all of the appearances around the World, he said, “I have people that go out and help Santa this time of year that’s how I can explain how I can be so many places at once.” Some of Santa’s helpers were trained at Higbee’s Department Store which had a Santa Claus school in Cleveland Ohio. Santa’s helpers went to school for a week to learn how to be Santa Claus. And it was a very intensive course. It was intended to train people so that they could work during the Christmas season as Santa’s helpers. Also in England, Santa Claus and Father Christmas are not the same but close enough so Santa appears all around the world in different versions.
One of the highlights of being Santa is visiting the local Children’s Hospitals, meeting up with the kids who couldn’t go home for Christmas. The community outreach is very important part of the Christmas Season. Santa explains, “Hospitals let the kids go home if they’re well enough that their parents can have them over the Christmas holiday. If you are too sick to do that, then you are really sick. I spent a long time with the kids. I go from bed to bed and some of the kids were so sick. But you could see in their eyes. They brightened and my heart just went out to them, and that makes it worthwhile.
When asked about the North Pole Santa said, “I say there’s an Indiana North Pole, and it’s a kind of the central headquarters. It’s not in the actual North Pole, because that’s too far away for us to distribute all the toys and stuff, but we can do it from Indiana because it’s centrally located.
Other questions included the reindeer Santa says, “The first thing the children do when they open a door is ask where the reindeer are. I say they are on the roof.
I asked Santa how does he get all those presents in one bag, “I tell them that they are in the sleigh with the reindeer, and the elfs refill my bag each time I visit a house. I get great questions from the kids. The little ones all want to know how I get up and down the chimney, or are you going to be able to come to my house? So you have to explain it’s magic.
What does Santa like to do on vacation? Santa said, “I can honestly say that my whole life has been a vacation. I don’t know how many countries and municipalities there are in the world. But I’ve been to many of them on vacation. Of course, I’ve been all over the world.”
Santa when he goes to the houses on Christmas likes snacks. I asked, What is Santa’s favorite snack? “Oh, actually cookies. I’m telling you, I have over time become a Cookie Monster. The one thing I avoid doing though is drinking the milk. I mean, liquids. Those are tough and so I’ll pretend to drink but I won’t. I don’t want to get in my hair and everything. Yeah, but I’ll eat the cookies.”
Santa concludes with, “They always asked me this. Why are you here now? Christmas is next week, I say I’m here checking on things like what you want and whether you’ve been good. Some kids get a little tongue tied when it comes to telling you what they want for Christmas. So you used the word. How about surprises? Do you like surprises? So well, Santa will bring you a bunch of surprises.
It’s always the spirit of Christmas.
