Mrs. Claus’ eyes were full of tears by the time I arrived at the hospital. Santa stood there stunned, as if hit with unbelievable news. “What is it?” I asked. Ryan had just hours to live. Santa and Mrs. Claus had met the boy just months previous but it was only within the past few days that things seriously took a decline and hope was lost. These are the calls Santa hates to take. How do you present the hope and love and brightness of Santa Claus to a dying child? “Why am I here?” I asked, nearly sucking inRead more

“I recognize that suit,” I said nonchalantly at the dry cleaner as I was doing business. There, on a hanger and freshly bagged, was Santa’s suit. Her eye brows lowered and she looked at me suspiciously. “How do you know that suit?” she asked. “Well it belongs to Santa,” I said. “Everyone knows that.” She relaxed a bit and smiled. “But not everyone knows this Santa,” she sighed. “Well I do,” I said. She put down her pen. She stared at me. “C’mere,” she said, pointing for me to follow her to an office. “You know who Santa is?” sheRead more

He looked so strange to me. It was the first time I had seen Santa wearing something other than his Santa suit. He was speaking before the Chamber of Commerce, one of those networking functions you always hate to go to. His comments were brief, conservative and frankly kind of bland. Here I was seeing Santa in the real world for the first time. I wasn’t convinced I was witnessing the same person. We met later at his office, a very casual almost messy kind of place. His desk was large but looked like it came from Ikea. A smallRead more

I was on my way home by way of country roads, having escaped the interstate on a busy Friday afternoon about a week before Christmas. As I came through the small pass on the two lane road I saw a vehicle coming from the other direction. As it was heading west I could see clearly inside the car – it was Santa Claus, driving a small pickup. I smiled to myself, rolled down the window and waved. Santa waved back. It was great Christmas moment, one that filled me with good cheer. Four days later I found myself driving thatRead more