When mall patrons enter the Auburn Mall’s main entrance they are greeted with a Christmas scene and a resilient smile from a familiar Christmas figure.
He rests in an oversized forest green chair which is set in front of a painted log cabin scene decorated for the holidays, surrounded with Christmas trees draped in white lights. His set is enclosed in red velvet ropes to ensure shoppers don’t walk in a photo, which his helpers take for parents.
This holiday icon that is plastered on decor and Coke cans this time of year is rarely found waiting in that chair. He likes to wander the food court to perform magic tricks and pass out candy canes. Some smaller patrons are not as open to meeting the tall man in the big, red coat and long white beard.
“I try not to traumatize the parents, the child, myself,” Santa said. “I’d rather have a happy experience.”
He bends down to eye level with a young girl as he pers through his spectacles. She takes a small step backward toward her mother who ushers her child closer. He extends a small candy cane that she hesitantly takes and offers to take a photo with the girl.
She and her brother step closer as their mom pulls out a smartphone to take a quick photo of her children. After the photo, the children quietly thank him and continue on their way through the mall. His day is filled with many interactions just like this one, and it’s all for the children, he said. The children, in fact, are the reason he began this job several years ago after meeting other holiday helpers on evening after dinner.
He signed up for Santa Claus school where he learned how to help the big man in the sleigh during his busiest time of the year. It was during a special training session that he found his purpose.
“It was a session on special needs children,” Santa said. “It melted my heart. I gotta do this.”
From then on he has spent the holidays meeting thousands of children of all ages and helping them get their Christmas lists to the North Pole. He is a member of the International Brotherhood of Real Bearded Santas, which helps to provide background checks and insurance for Santa’s helpers at malls and other holiday functions.
“It’s not a big city,” Santa said. “I know that, but it’s a community. It’s the same families that come in the mall every other day, it’s the same children.”
Some of his fondest memories are at the Auburn Mall. During the 2017 holiday season, he remembers two buses filled with 24 pre-k students pulling up to the mall doors. They came in to sing to him.
He then passed out bells to all of the children, so they could all sing jingle bells together.
“To get 24 pre-K doing anything together is monumental,” Santa said.
For this Santa it’s all about the children.
“From special needs children to the hide behind the parents’ legs, those that run up and tackle me just to get a hug,” Santa said.
They are all open and love to talk with him, Santa said. That’s why he keeps a journal of all his interactions.
Each day he journals about his experiences that day and places all the children’s wish lists in his journal. Occasionally the photo printer will print extra photos that the photo staff gives to him.
“It’s a large binder by the time the season is over,” Santa said. “It’s a very large binder filled with memories.”
Everyday community members of all ages pass by and greet him. Some stop for photos while others pass of their Christmas lists.
“Most everyday I have tears,” Santa said. “Tears of joy, tears of disbelief, tears of wonderment. I just love to listen to the children and their little stories.”
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Elizabeth, senior in journalism and political science, is the community editor for The Plainsman
