Skinny Santa?

One of my favorite movies at Christmas time is Miracle on 34th Street. Not all the remakes, but the original with Edmund Gywnn and a young Natalie Woods. I think it is one of my favorites because of the innocence that is shown. Not only through the eyes of a child, but through the eyes of people who believe!





For over 33 years, I have played Santa Claus in various venues. Now, none of them have been at the malls or anything like that. It has been at private parties, church parties, or in private homes on Christmas Eve.


It all started when I was 16 years old. Yes, I have always been able to fill the shoes, or pants for that matter of Santa. Being a rather large teenager allowed me to wear the suit without any padding. When I was 16, one of the customers in the grocery store where I worked came in all mad and frustrated. It seems the Kindergarten teacher told her 5 year old that Santa did not exist. Mom said if she could find someone to come to the house dressed as the jolly old elf, she would pay them. One of my co-workers volunteered me. The mother of the child in question went straight to the rental shop and rented a suit for me to wear. At that point, a love for Christmas was born. I played Santa for Amanda that evening, and went on to play Santa for her and her own children as the years went by.


One year I played Kris Kringle for a National Guard Unit that was being shipped out to the Gulf for Dessert Storm. That was probably the largest group at over 325 kids!


One of my most memorable stints as Santa was for an organization known as the Hope Center. The Hope Center is a group of churches that came together, threw out denominational lines and said it was time for the family of God to help! Twice a year they come together and feed, clothe and provide for the homeless in one of the surrounding counties where I live. This particular year, a young girl of 4 asked if Santa could bring her Dad back. I assumed her dad was in jail. When I asked her where her father was, she told me he had died. Once again, I thought the worst, that he was killed in a drug deal gone bad, or something to that effect. During further investigation, I found out that he indeed did die during a drug deal, but he was an Innocent bystander! He was pumping gas, while his daughter was asleep in the back seat. I looked down at that little girl and said, "Honey, Santa can do a lot of things, bu he can't do that". I went on to tell her that if Santa knows anything, he knows that her dad was in heaven, at the right hand side of God, and was pointing down and saying, "Jesus, look, that's my Little girl down there and I love her". Yes, I did wipe the tear away from my eye as she walked to get her gifts!


I tell you all this because I am worried! Tomorrow and Tuesday, I will play Santa for about 120 children at the Organization where I work. This will be the first time since surgery a year ago that I will put on the red suit! Let's talk a little about body image here. Santa is a big guy, with a belly that shakes like a bowl of jelly when he laughs. Let's face it, my belly full of jelly is no longer jolly! I know that persona plays a big part in who Santa is. It is not only the overweight person in the suit, but Santa is a big guy!





The morbidly obese Santa above. Tomorrow I'll post a picture of the average size Santa!


Who knows, maybe I'm worried about nothing. I feel that when I put on the suit, I will magically inflate to my old self. That scares me, cause I don't want to inflate to that person. Is there such a thing as a skinny Santa?


Let's just hope my Ho, Ho, Ho does not come out s He, He He!


I'll let ya know how it turns out!