Nah, Couldn’t Be!
I was always told when I was young that Santa lived up at the North Pole all year long. Well it took me enough years to learn the truth of this. When I was in the southern States visiting just outside Atlanta I learned how wrong that information really was.
When my husband and daughter and I pulled into a parking spot at a local home building store we all noticed a smaller fire engine red car parked in front of us. We couldn’t help but notice it. We commented on the redness of this car and then they left and I settled into reading my book.
I happened to glance up and noticed a rather interesting fellow approached the red car. Can’t be, I thought. Sure looks like him. It has to be I thought to myself. It has to be him; no one else would wear that look in ninety degree heat.
This gentleman had a long white beard and white curly hair cascading down from under a bright red cowboy hat. It didn’t look fake either, it was the real thing. He wore frameless spectacles on the tip of his nose and he had a jolly face that anyone who saw him couldn’t help but notice.
I sat up to get a much closer and better look at this interesting character. His outfit was giving away his identity more and more. He was wearing a white shirt and black suspenders held up red pants over his round belly. I strained even more to look. Yup, he was wearing black running shoes and not black boots, but still had the “look”.
When he noticed me parked behind him he smiled and waved. I very carefully returned the friendly gestures as he hopped into his little red car. Couldn’t be I thought, nah couldn’t be!
As he pulled out of his parking spot it allowed me a good look at the back of his car. There on his license plate in large letters was his name “SANTA.”
When my family returned I greeted them with the words “you will never guess who I saw!”
Well it turns out that there is quite a few professional Santa’s living in the Atlanta area and right across the country. It is a full time job for them and they even go to a Santa school for training. To work they are required to get a passing grade just as others who attend any school are required to do. Throughout the year they attend a lot of special events that go on in the area. They even travel in their job if it is necessary. Imagine Santa turning up at the airport and you have to frisk him. Or better still what would you talk about if you were sitting beside him during the flight?
It is a good paying job and a fun way to make a good living down there. During the Christmas season a good Santa can make between a hundred and two hundred dollars an hour.
There are a lot of Santa schools in the States and in Canada. The first school on record dates back to 1937. A well known quote by Charles Howard who started this first school says it all: “He errs who thinks Santa enters through the chimney. Santa enters through the heart.”
The Santa’s are required to pass the course with good grades and look and act the part. They must be the most personable person in the room and be able to charm adults as well as children. The fellow that I spotted met every requirement even while he was shopping. I have never seen a Santa that close up in all my years that looked so much like the Santa on the Coca Cola advertisements.
I thought wouldn’t that be a wonderful calling as a life’s work. Some Santa’s can be booked for events with real reindeer. I especially like the fact that this jolly fellow even turns up at rock concerts from time to time with the younger crowd. They have also been trained to specialize as motivational speakers and have spoken at conventions as well as in schools.
So if you happen to spot a Santa in a car stopped at a red light or somewhere else in the middle of a hot summer day that Santa may be headed to work to spread a little hope and inspiration to those he meets.
Jessica |
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