Of course, Santa has entertained children at stores across the United States and around the world at least since the 1890s. He’s reliable that way.
Three Questions usually focuses on people who aren’t household names, people doing fascinating work more or less behind the scenes. Santa is something of an exception, however. All the world knows and loves him, even if a few adults have forgotten or fancy that they no longer believe.
There’s no point diving into the biographical details of the Man in Red. They stretch back at least to a Christian monk born in 280 A.D. in what today is Turkey. St. Nicholas was famous for protecting children and generosity to families. And though he has long since moved to the North Pole — and he relies on a reindeer-drawn sleigh as his chief mode of transportation — that much has not changed.
We recently sat down with Sinterklass (as he’s known in Holland) for a brief face-to-face interview before he had to take off for important business elsewhere. “My elves don’t like it when I take too much time away,” he explained.
Q: Santa, it’s an honor. How long have you visited Town & Country?
Santa: "For the last about three years, here. But I have also been visiting a number of other places for a really long time."
Q: When you sit down with children, what do they ask you? Do they ever surprise you?
Santa: "Well, normally I'll ask kids, 'What would you like for Christmas?' And I never quite know how they're going to respond. Some respond, 'Well, I would like a new laptop,' or some say they would like a new camera, or they'd like a new puzzle. Those are the interesting ones. And they're the kind of requests that normally occur.
“The ones that kind of grab you by the heartstrings, though, are the ones who come in and say, ‘Well, I need a new pair of shoes. Or I’d like to get a new job for my neighbor who lost his job.’ That’s really hard. And thank heavens there are still kids out there who still ask for that kind of thing. So that’s the really neat part.
“Those are the kids. Now I get parents coming in. And of course, I have fun joking with them. Most of the time they’ll ask for a new Buick or a new Cadillac or something. I’ll tell them, ‘I just don’t have any of those, but I have a couple of Ferraris around. Would you like one of those? And some reindeer?’ That usually gets a stir out of them. …
“That’s what I love about visiting this place. The people here are wonderful.”
Q: I’ve always wanted to ask you: How do you visit all of those homes in one night? Are you breaking any laws of physics?
Santa: "That's what the magic of Christmas is all about. And also don't forget there are 12 time zones around the world. So if I can get everybody done in an hour on the East coast, then I just move to the Midwest, then to the Mountain time zone and then to Pacific time, then to Hawaii-Aleutian time when I visit Hawaii.
“I try to take a break when I’m in Hawaii. But there’s never enough time. And I just keep moving around the world that way.”
Know someone who can handle Three Questions? We're looking for behind-the-scenes-but-still fascinating Miami Valley residents with something to say. Send your suggestions to tom.gnau@coxinc.com.
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