My debut as Mr. Claus went swimmingly. The costume left quite a bit to be desired (itchy, hot, and the beard was a nightmare), but I was a smashing success with the kids, if I do say so myself. Here's a couple of pics to give you an idea of how things looked. First, the "Before" pic -- that's me, at about 8:15AM, prior to getting suited up. Nice, ultrashort new haircut, as well:
And here I am, with my family, a few hours later:
What a friggin' hoot.
Now, granted, when it came to being in character I wasn't what most folks would consider a "traditional" Santa: I just can't do "Grandfatherly." Instead, I opted for Cool Santa, in that I knew all the toys the kids were talking about, knew the bands that they were asking for new CDs from, chatted about the coolest characters in The Incredibles, etc. They ate it up, even the ones who were clearly not convinced of my Holiday Deity status and who were, instead, putting up with the fuss to placate parents and get some free candy.
But a few of the kids, the younger ones obviously, really seemed to believe. There ws one little girl who came back at the end and gave me a snowman she had made out of styrofoam balls (then she asked if she could have my hat and I had to send her packin'), and one little boy must have come over for at least 5 hugs. It was a huge kick.
The only kind of not fun part was that my kids were both in on the "big secret." They're still in the whole "believing in Santa" phase, and rather than risking them figuring out while at the party that Daddy was in the suit we instead opted to play it safe and we let them know that Santa needed a hand and that I was pitching in and to not tell the other kids. So instead we had this big secret, which was kinda cool. But it would have been amazing to see their faces up close if they had thought I was the Real Deal.
On a related note, I now have tremendous respect for Department Store Santas. I only did the Santa gig for about one and a half hours but it was EXHAUSTING. I'm a pretty friendly and congenial guy, but smiling and waving and chatting up kid after kid after kid, without pause, left me feeling incredibly drained the rest of the day. I can't imagine doing the same thing for as much as 12 hours straight, daily, for nearly 6 weeks.
No wonder they're all drunks.
Mood: Mellow
Now Playing: Various Artists, "Ultra-Lounge: Christmas Cocktails Vol. 1"
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