Santa at the church is over. Fun. A little chaotic, but fun. Afterwards, I got some compliments from the person who arranged for me to come, which she passed on from the parents. One I particularly treasure: the best Santa since the real one. Shazam.
Of course, most of the kids were cute -- one duo, so much so that I informed them that I knew their name was Awesome. When one protested, I said "Well, you're awesome, and she's awesome, so you must be The Awesome Family", which the mother liked so much she was repeating it as they walked away. Four eight year old boys came up all at once, and I asked Are you all going to sit on my lap?, to which one said, Nope, we're just here for the chocolate candy. I told them I admired people who knew what they wanted. And one woman sat on my lap, and snuggled in, way close. She was cute, but I was suddenly glad for the fake beard, hair, and thick jacket. I mean, this was a church!
I had fun. I'd do it again.
2 comments:
I think being a Santa is much harder than it would seem. Everything you say much be couched in careful terms. Sounds likeyou have the right stuff.
Depends on the audience. Most are willing, nay, eager to be pleased. Its the ones -- well, the one -- that isn't so generally happy with life that is tough. Yes, I have one specific event in mind.
I've been told that people are impressed about how much I know about the currently hot toys, but I usually don't know what are. If I don't know what the toy is or does, simply saying 'good choice' or ' that's a nice one, isn't it?' will usually please them - everyone likes having their preferences confirmed. If I hear a toy mentioned several times,I'll ask a kid to tell me about it - Gee, I hadn't heard of that one; what's it like? They're always delighted to do that. It gives them a chance to be the expert -- I got to tell Santa what that does!
If a kid explicitly asks for something that I'm sure is expensive, like an XBox or a PS3 or a laptop, I'll express just the slightest bit of surprise -- boy, those things are expensive, aren't they? -- followed after a minute by 'They're pretty popular, so I can't promise that I can get it for you -- but I'll try, and if I can't, I'll get something that I think you'll like.' That way, if they don't get it, they can blame Santa, and if they do, perhaps they have a sense of the extra effort it took to get it for them. Even if they don't know that it was their parents who did it.
And if the occasional cute woman wants to sit on my lap, well....
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