‘Tis the season.  Klown and I have been booking Santa and Mrs.  Claus gigs here and there in the area.  We don’t do a whole lot of them, but enough to remind me about how magical this time of year is for children.

The first weekend of December, we performed as the Mr. and Mrs. at an HOA party in a fancy housing development.  The kids ran the gamut from newborn to 12 years, from scared to oh-my-gosh-Santa!!  They were dressed in jeans and sweaters, fancy dresses, fleece pullovers, and pajamas.  A bit of everything.  Each child got a small stuffed animal, a candy cane, and a cookie recipe (for mom to make for Santa).  The little ones who wouldn’t sit on Santa’s lap would sit on mine, and I got all the babies.

This year, Klown is also doing some part-time gigs at the local mall as the Mall Santa.  They don’t usually hire his type as a Mall Santa – he is wearing a wig and beard.  Mall Santas always have real beards.  And they are usually older, in their 60’s or later.  This is the preference, and I understand it.

But when it comes to these real-bearded Santas, natural isn’t always better.  In fact, I might suggest that the naturally-bearded Santas don’t always have what it takes to be Santa.  They don’t have the personality, or the buy-in, to do it right.  By “do it right” I mean that they need to care about what they are doing.  They need to care about the kids, they need to care about the magic that is Santa.  They need to have not only the look, which anyone can buy with a good wig and suit, but they need to have that ability to become the legend.

Because, in the end, that is what Santa is.  That legend has kept children in a suspended state of happiness throughout the month of December, for generations.  Yes, he has changed over the years, but not that much from when I was a kid 50 years ago.  When I go to perform with my husband, I am always enamored of his ability to talk to the kids, to encourage them, to treat them gently when they are frightened of him, and to be brusk with those that may abuse his good nature. When he goes from Klown to Santa, when that coat gets zipped and the wig goes on, he becomes what the children expect.  He becomes Santa.

It takes more than a suit and a beard.  It takes someone who hasn’t forgotten what it was like to be a kid, who hasn’t misplaced or forgotten the magic of the season.  It takes someone who believed in Santa once, and didn’t forget what that felt like.  Klown is that kind of guy.  I am proud of him for it.

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