Anticipating Santa, Part 4

She was five years old and didn’t believe in Santa. What, I ask you, has this world become when a five year old in America cannot believe in Santa Claus?

But according to Jeff Westover, founder of My Merry Christmas.com, it was this non-belief in Santa that has led to a virtual empire of associated Christmas websites (including this one).

Back in 1991 Westover married a woman with a five year old child. In today’s world where blended families are common Westover found himself challenged to keep his beloved tradition of Santa Claus alive because his intended and her child had never had the Santa tradition in their holiday celebration.

“She opened her presents on Christmas Eve,” Westover recalled. “Can you imagine my horror at that? But she was insistent. It was a terrible parental challenge to deal with right off the bat. She didn’t believe in Santa and I had to make that happen.”

To make a long story short, Westover got some help from a higher source: the North Pole. Back then, the Internet wasn’t a reality. He had to do it the old way. But somehow he got the help he needed — with direct contact from Santa himself.

Santa, it seems, does a lot of mailing. He usually sends letters but is known to send packages containing all manner of goodies specifically to serve the needs of just one particular person, if necessary.

He will use his computer, like many of us do these days, but he actually has more methods of contact that almost anyone else in the world. He uses fax machines, telephones, cell phones, short wave radios, Morse code and even the good old fashioned method of smoke signals. Santa is big on communication. But his preferred method — like to due to the promise of guaranteed delivery through sleet and snow — is through the post office.

“It took one special elf and Santa at the North Pole himself to convince my eldest daughter about Santa Claus,” Westover triumphantly reports. “I couldn’t do it alone. That singular effort led to sharing what we know about Santa and the North Pole with the world. We use to send out our Santa updates by fax, but that was very expensive. Then we discovered the Internet. That made it cheaper and easier to reach millions.”

For as much as we love the Internet, Westover says that nothing does it for his kids (he has seven!) than actually getting something in the mail from the North Pole. “Oh yes,” he recalls, “that first Christmas my daughter’s first gift from the North Pole was a map of the world. She got it a couple of days before Christmas and she was instructed by her elf to hang it on the wall and use it to track Santa.”

She did, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Anticipating Santa, Part 3: Christmas & Halloween

When did Halloween become an adult holiday? I was invited, for the first time ever, to an adult Halloween party. No kids allowed. No trick or treating. No candy. Just serious adult Halloween celebration.

What does that actually mean?

Dressing up, of course. And adult Halloween celebration means serious costuming.

After days of discussing it with my wife we have decided on the best of all costumes: I’ll be Santa and she’ll be Mrs. Claus.

We are, after all, the ultimate Christmas freaks. We hang out lights (thousands of them) starting in September. Our tree is the first to go up and the last to come down. We actually go Christmas caroling. We hang stockings, track Santa Claus and put Christmas marshmallows in our Christmas cocoa.

I was tickled recently to see an obvious connection between Halloween and Christmas. Seems that in the old days wassailing was all the holiday rage. In that old world tradition folks would go house to house drinking and singing and seeking treats — all in the name of celebrating Christmas. So of course I can dress up as Santa for Halloween. They go together like peas and carrots.

Besides, everybody loves Santa. I’ve already tried on my costume, you see. A little stroll around the neighborhood brought fans out from all over. Of course, I was approached by every living thing under four feet in height. But I was also equally popular amongst the adults, too. Women hugged me and even men asked to sit on my lap.

I’m going to be the hit of the adult Halloween party. I just know it. Everybody loves the Big Guy and wants a piece of him. Santa, you see, is a serious fantasy for more that just those with sugar plums dancing in their head or for those playing the part for a Halloween party.

Evidently, there are people out there now who want to apply for work at the north pole and wear the red suit. For real.

The mail coming to the north pole now in advance of the season often includes such merry job seekers, Elf Hugo tells me. More than any other question that is asked there is one that is most commonly posed: just what does it take to become an elf and might I have a shot at becoming Santa himself?

Every CEO has people who want to take their job. Even Santa, I suppose.

Hugo says Santa spends a lot of time on this kind of mail. He knows he cannot answer it all. But he does help folks as much as he can. Next week, I’ll share a little more about Santa’s mailing practices as he attempts to reach believers one-on-one.