Being a Shopping Mall Santa

Mary became a frequent visitor and outside of my own children, she is the only child whose name was remembered by this shopping mall Santa during each of his four years of greeting customers and visitors to the mall.

Having been in the community for a while and being in a position that allowed me access to a large number of people, I recongized many of the adults who frequented the mall and Santa would call them by name as they walked past his display. There were some seniors who came up to Santa after he had called to wish them a Merry Christmas as they were going about their shopping…

One lady whom I knew quite well came up to me and asked “Who are you?”

With a good round of belly laughs, Santa replied that he had been visiting her every year since she was a little girl and he was very surprised that she still didn’t know who Santa was!!!

There were those who was very timid and extremely reluctant to come and see Santa, but a quiet voice and some persistant pleading soon gave them to know “there was nothing to dread” and so it was they cautiously approached Santa in his sled.

Of course, there were the squirmers and the odd whisker puller and the little exciteable child who left Santa with a dark, wet spot on his lap which required Santa to take a short break while someone went in search of a hair dryer!!!

Oh, and, of course there were the charmers…the lovely young ladies who came with their heady perfumes, their classy Christmas attire and their sultry voices who wanted to see if they could get a “rise” out of old Santa…Of course they could…

It is a good thing that most of Santa’s face was hidden behind white, curly tresses, a pure white moustache and beard - otherwise people would have plainly seen the beads of perspiration on Santa’s forehead and they would have plainly seen in his cheeks that Santa was “red” and he was far from “dead”!!!  (Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more…)

Santa and Mrs. Claus also appeared at an agricultural-based hardware store for a couple of years…the summer after the second appearance at the farm store, my wife and I were at the local swimming pool and my wife was quite surprised when one youngster came up to her, all excited…”You’re Mrs. Santa…You’re Mrs. Santa…”

My mother-in-law, bless her dear departed soul, was a very large woman and one day while she was shopping some rude kid came up to her and said “Gee, lady, but are you ever fat.”

“Yes, I am…” she said, and then after a pause, she added, “I am also Mrs. Claus and I’ll be letting Santa know just how rude you are.” You should have seen the look of tragic horror on that kid’s face. I’ll bet he was never rude like that to anyone ever again.

The last year that this individual was the Shopping Mall Santa, daughter, now six, and son, now three, came for a visit and as Santa was talking to them, she kept peering deep into Santa’s eyes and it was at that point that Santa knew the gig was up. She didn’t say anything but she saw past the beard and the suit of crushed red velveteen and knew that she was a very fortunate girl to have a very special person in her life who was available and able to tuck her and her brother safely into their beds most nights!

Many Christmases have passed since these memories were imbedded in the recesses of a younger man’s mind…but they are memories that will remain for as long as the one-time Shopping Mall Santa has breath and then they will hopefully linger as the story is told to my grandchildren and they in turn will relate it to their grandchildren…

Memories and beliefs as vivid and as true as the old editorial “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus”…I will believe that until the day I die.