Being Santa Can Get Pretty Emotional Sometimes

A new book highlights the humanity and diversity of Kris Kringle and his many helpers.

By Joy Díaz & Caroline CovingtonDecember 17, 2020 2:03 pm,

We Are Santa” is a collection of stories from Santas of all backgrounds, from across the country, who share some of their most touching and profound experiences with children over the years – especially those with health problems or disabilities. Proceeds from the book will go to a children’s hospital in Colorado.

Santa Barry

A man dressed in a santa claus cosutme with white stars and red stripes

Santa Barry from Grapevine, Texas.

Santa Barry, from Grapevine, Texas, says all of the Santas in the book have one thing in common: they try to embody the spirit of Christmas in their own special way.

“We all bring our own selves to it a little something different because the important thing is Santa doesn’t enter through the chimney; he enters through the heart.”

 

Santa David

a book cover that's green with images of several men dressed as Santa Claus

The cover of “We Are Santa.”

“I’m working here at my video console preparing to type [to] some of the children who are unable to leave the house. One other thing that I’m doing is using a snow globe that’s inflated so that Santa can get really close to the children without anyone touching and without anyone breathing the same air so that we can be really careful.”

 

“One time I did see a young man. … He showed up with his wife and with his newborn daughter, and he seated his wife next to me went over to the stroller and picked up his little girl and he started to hand her to me. And then he backed up a little bit and he said, ‘You need to understand, she’s just come out of the incubator.'”

 

Santa Mike

a man dressed in a red and white Santa costume

Santa Mike.

“This young girl came by. She must have been, I guess, 9 or 10 years old and she was missing the left hand. Well, that’s what happens to be the hand that I’m missing.”

 

“I pulled the sleeve up on my jacket and I tapped on my arm and said, ‘See? I don’t have a left hand either.'”

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