{"id":23926,"date":"2016-03-07T09:30:02","date_gmt":"2016-03-07T16:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/?p=23926"},"modified":"2016-03-07T09:30:02","modified_gmt":"2016-03-07T16:30:02","slug":"silly-santas-on-parade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/silly-santas-on-parade\/","title":{"rendered":"Silly Santas on Parade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Everyone wants to be Santa<\/a> Claus. <\/p>\n

Who wouldn\u2019t want to work with toys, elves and reindeer? Who would not want to be beloved of children and adults alike? <\/p>\n

Santa<\/a> is universally recognized, perpetually jolly, well fed, and immensely popular. <\/p>\n

Other men look on Santa<\/a> with envy. He is the ultimate man\u2019s man. He works with power tools, drives faster than anyone, and he gets all the girls. <\/p>\n

Santa<\/a> is so popular people cannot help dressing up like him for all kinds of public events. In Sweden they gather by the thousands dressed in beards and red suits \u2013 to jog. In Denmark an annual international convention of Santa<\/a> portrayers gathers every year \u2013 and each one of them swears they are the \u201cone and only\u201d Santa<\/a> Claus. And in cities around the world hundreds will gather during the holidays to crawl from pub to pub \u2013 dressed as the Big Guy. <\/p>\n

The media eats this all up. They love<\/a> to give us pictures of Santas gathered together. After all, Santa<\/a>, no matter what he is doing, makes everyone smile. <\/p>\n

Who cares if an image or a video shows a whole gaggle of Santa<\/a> Clauses? What\u2019s the harm in a herd of Kringles? The more the merrier, right?<\/p>\n

There\u2019s just one problem: the kids<\/em>. <\/p>\n

Whenever there is a public spectacle that features Santa<\/a> in numbers the kids get confused. <\/p>\n

\u201cWait a minute,\u201d they write in<\/strong><\/a>, \u201cwhat\u2019s going on here?\u201d
\n<\/em>
\nIndeed. <\/p>\n

Santa<\/a> of old was just one guy. History has added reindeer, elves and even multiple ways to track Santa<\/a> on Christmas<\/a> Eve but at the end of the day it has always been one dude in red coming down each chimney. <\/p>\n

Announced today was yet another gathering of men and women wearing the red suit \u2013 this one in Branson, Missouri. More than 1000 of them will be there to \u201cDiscover Santa<\/strong><\/a>\u201d. <\/p>\n

These are professional Santas \u2013 the real<\/em> Santas — the ones that take kids on their knee and hears Christmas<\/a> wishes. <\/p>\n

These Santas will hole up in a fancy resort for a couple of days to hold a convention. They will talk shop. They will take classes about sacred Santa<\/a> traditions and sly Santa<\/a> techniques in working with kids. <\/p>\n

They will sing Christmas<\/a> carols in July. They will celebrate the heritage of Santa<\/a> portrayers. They will hand out awards. <\/p>\n

And there will be a big parade right through town with 1000 plus dressed in their best suits with beards freshly trimmed and waxed, all giving white-gloved waves and smiles to the crowd — a crowd, by the way, that will be packed with children. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s wrong with this picture?<\/em><\/p>\n

Well, there\u2019s certainly nothing wrong with Santas getting together. <\/p>\n

In fact, there is a fellowship among Santas that I really admire. They do tough work, work that sometimes has them facing difficult situations and long hours. <\/p>\n

There is certainly a lot to be said for a Santa<\/a> portrayer who invests time and money to hone his craft in the name of serving children and families better. If I were playing Santa<\/a> I would want to know all the latest techniques and news that would make me a better Santa<\/a>, too. <\/p>\n

I love<\/a> the historical celebration of Santa<\/a>. The fact they identify the selfless givers among them is commendable. <\/p>\n

But for all of this why, oh why, can\u2019t the professional Santas of today remember just one little thing: their customers<\/em>? Their customers are the kids! <\/p>\n

No, it isn\u2019t the kids that put what little jingle in their pockets that comes from being Santa<\/a>. But the kids are the reason there is a Santa<\/a> at all. Can\u2019t Santas get together with these little ones in mind?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s July, guys. <\/p>\n

Nobody in their right minds parades in long fur-trimmed sleeves in July \u2013 except for\u2026uh\u2026why are you doing this again<\/em>?<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to spoil anyone\u2019s fun. But can\u2019t you guys just show up in short sleeves, sandals and shorts like millions of other men your age who go to summer gatherings? <\/p>\n

Do you really need to put yourselves on television? Do you need to parade through town? Don\u2019t you get enough love<\/a> from all the other parades you are in?<\/p>\n

I had this problem with you when my kids were little. Now I have this problem with my grandchildren. I shouldn\u2019t have to explain why there are 1000 of you guys at a meeting. <\/p>\n

Santa<\/a> is awesome but he\u2019s got secrets. <\/p>\n

His North Pole<\/a> compound has never been found. The reindeer games have never been on ESPN. There is no actual footage supplied by NORAD or anyone else of Santa\u2019s Christmas<\/a> flight. <\/p>\n

Santa<\/a> has never been caught. Santa<\/a> comes in the dark of night, he delivers fast, and most often he gives anonymously. <\/p>\n

How he gets around the world in a single night remains a scientific mystery. <\/p>\n

He \u201cknows when you are sleeping and he knows when you\u2019re awake\u201d \u2013 that\u2019s powerful, legendary, and mystical stuff. <\/p>\n

So do you really expect the kids at a resort or just in town there in Branson to understand Santa<\/a> in multiplicity? <\/p>\n

Surely there are better answers than a rehash of past Santa<\/a> gathering mistakes. <\/p>\n

You guys are a brotherhood \u2013 a united front of Christmas<\/a> cheer dedicated to the public good. <\/p>\n

That public good isn\u2019t just valid at Christmas<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Take off the suit and go to your meetings as the secret Santas you are. And when you gather for the big picture please wear something to disguise your merrier identity. <\/p>\n

Ok, you can say \u201cMerry Christmas<\/a>!\u201d<\/em> That\u2019s cool even in July. But don\u2019t let them see you sweat. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Everyone wants to be Santa Claus. Who wouldn\u2019t want to work with toys, elves and reindeer? Who would not want to be beloved of children and adults alike? Santa is universally recognized, perpetually jolly, well fed, and immensely popular. Other men look on Santa with envy. He is the ultimate man\u2019s man. He works with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","iawp_total_views":8,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,2,20],"tags":[525],"class_list":["post-23926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christmas-features","category-christmas-news","category-christmas-opinion","tag-discover-santa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}