Recently I run across some notes that I had taken back in October of last year that I had from a presentation by Santa Steve Gillham also known as the Triangle Santa in the Raleigh area in North Carolina. Steve done a wonderful presentation of his “sneak a peek” CHRISTmas Eve visits and told some very funny stories. But one of the biggest take away from the get together was how that even though we wear a red suit and beard whether designer or real that is where we stop being the same… We all know that the one’s that do this for the right reasons it’s all in the heart and it show’s through to the children. I realized that we all have our own ideas of what Santa would look like. We reflect that in our individual touches that we add to the suit or our Santa attire. A few of the things I picked up from the meeting was we all are story tellers in some way. When were answering questions we have our on spin on how many elves are there? Or How do you get down the chimney, how does Reindeer fly….. The ways we answer those questions help spin the tale of our own North Pole. We create our on individual North Pole that is the way we see it… If you’re fortunate enough to have some props such as glass bottles with glitter and led lights mounted under them you can even have fairy dust that you use……. Here is a couple of Q & A I took away. Obviously you each will have your own answer that will differ and that is what helps set your Santa apart. For the new Santa’s out there these are some things to think about so that your not stumped by some questions down the line……

If you have time in a home setting or party with children have a question and Answer session with them and story time. For me here are a few answers I have worked on…. Again no right or wrong answers… Always a work in process.

How many elves do you have? I have 5,457……… unless elf Caitlyn has her baby while I am gone…

How do you get down that small chimney? Christmas Dust (I carry a small pouch with artificial snow and glitter mixed together and show it to them).

How do Reindeer fly? Well the way the antlers are made they help pick the wind up and lift them… along with the special CHRISTmas moss only found at the North Pole.

What is your favorite cookie? I ask them what theirs is… what ever they answer I say “wow that’s my favorite too”.

What happens if someone catches Santa on CHRISTmas Eve? I tell them we’ll have a cookie and milk party just them and me. Then I pull out a white feather prop….. I explain to them that we’ll have a great time but when it’s time for me to leave I will drop the feather on the ground. At the exact moment the feather hits the ground they will be back asleep in their beds and will not remember anything about catching me…..(I drop the feather while I’m talking at the end of the answer and they just watch the feather mesmerized) …. If there is a parent around that is a good idea for them to pick up on…. Leave a feather near the milk and cookies that were left out and the children will think they actually caught Santa and can’t remember it now because of the story…. “Thanks Steve for that one if you’re reading this”…..

While I don’t have all the great props yet that Steve had I will be adding some background music while I’m story telling this year…. Easily downloaded to my ipad to give a different atmosphere to the story telling…

Hope you enjoyed my little tidbit of info and don’t forget to stop into the chat rooms on Saturday nights starting at 9 PM eastern to get feed back from other Santa’s on things just like this….

Santa Brian of SC