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Decorating, playing Santa...why???

Warped9

Warped9

Admiral
Admiral
Today someone asked me why I bother playing Santa Claus. The short answer was because it was fun. I enjoyed it. I did for the first time four years ago on a lark and found I enjoyed it immensely. And so I made my own custom costume of an old-fashioned style Santa and don it for a day or so at work and for the neighbours and kids.

But I have to say I also get a rush out of making people smile and laugh. Kids see it as something magical and they get memories they'll have forever, young adults appreciate the enthusiasm and seniors feel young again because they remember their happy times.

Why play Santa, though. I'm sure different people may have different motivations. And for that matter why do we bother decorating our homes, our workplaces and our streets? To what purpose for only a couple of weeks and a day or so?

Even if Christmas isn't observed religiously it still has a way of making (most) people happy and brightening up the beginning of a long winter. It's the only time many folks can tolerate the cold and snow (in northern climates).

Has anyone else here played Santa? Or do you know someone else who has and why? And why do you bother decorating?

Anyone?
 
Yes. I have played Santa in an "official" capacity numerous times, and I love it each and every time. It is so much fun, and the delight I get in seeing children smile and laugh makes my imminent cold and flu worth every moment.
 
I'm not wired to play Santa, but I love the idea of it and I think that if anyone wants to do it, good for them.
We do quite a bit of Christmas decorating, even before we had kids. It makes everything look nice and helps set the mood for the season. That said, there's nothing better than taking down the decorations after the New Year.
 
My Dad, now deceased, used to love playing Santa. I first asked him to do so about 25 years ago when they needed a Santa at a children's picnic my son was going to. Before that my father didn't seem to be very interested in Christmas before the first time he played Santa but he ended up volunteering time and time again after the first time.
 
Warped9 said:
why do you bother decorating?
Click to expand...

There aren't many traditions I care for, but christmas is a special time for me, because it is the point in the year from which I measure the passage of the time, at least in terms of feeling.

Dates and calendars don't mean a lot to me. I don't have any emotional connection there. Time would be an awfully dull thing if all we had to measure and experience it with were numbers.

But christmas invokes a wealth of excited feelings and happy memories, which makes it a convenient and lovely thing to measure time with.

My christmas decorations are mostly the ones I had when I was little.
I have inherited them. Some of them date from my own childhood, some from my parent's childhood, and some from my grandparent's childhood, so represent the christmases experienced by three generations of excited children. :)

I decorate my home with these things at christmas because it's part of the ritual of creating an emotional connection with time.
 
I'm not fat or grey enough to pull Santa off. But maybe I could if I dressed futuristically and told the kids, "I'm Santa from the future! Look at all the weight I lost!".
 
My fondest memory of Christmas decorating occurred when my youngest son was about seven. I went to put up our artificial tree and found that somehow it was broken. I couldn't stretch the budget to cover a new tree so it looked like we would go without.

About 3 days later my son came home from school which a large rolled up piece of paper. He unrolled it and it was a Chrismas tree that he had drawn, coloured in and cut out. It was about 4 foot tall. He had spent his lunch hours making it.

We stuck it to the wall with blue tack, sticky taped ornaments to it and that was our Christmas tree for that year.
 
Warped9 said:
Has anyone else here played Santa? Or do you know someone else who has and why? And why do you bother decorating?

Anyone?
Click to expand...

When I was little, my father would mysteriously disappear for a while during the family Christmas Eve party. Amazingly, Santa would always show up while he was gone. ;) I caught on the first time (I was five or six), but my younger cousins didn't for a few years, and I always got a kick out of knowing a big secret. My father wasn't fat, gray or bearded, but the costume and a pillow worked just fine. I didn't see a "real" Santa until I was an adult.

I hang a wreath on the front door to help make the neighborhood festive. I have a tree because the lights make me happy during the winter, and the ornaments are sentimental (and include a bunch of little objects that were not originally intended to be tree ornaments). And I have a small-but-growing collection of creches, including one from my childhood. The creches are the most important to me, because they remind me what Christmas is primarily about.
 
I'm Santa at work every year and a local department store, ShinKong Mitsukoshi, hires me every Christmas. This is in Taiwan mind you!
Wait, I'll get pics.

picture.php



You can't see my gut here, but at 255lbs it's great to let it all hangout one day and nobody complains!
 
Warped9 said:
It's the only time many folks can tolerate the cold and snow (in northern climates).
Click to expand...

God, I would KILL for one nice cold Christmas!

Here in Australia(Perth)we average about 35 with humidity becoming more of a factor. Friggin hot and uncomfortable.

I'd LOVE to be able to go out in jumpers and gloves and play in the nice cool snow!!!
 
Miss Chicken said:
My fondest memory of Christmas decorating occurred when my youngest son was about seven. I went to put up our artificial tree and found that somehow it was broken. I couldn't stretch the budget to cover a new tree so it looked like we would go without.

About 3 days later my son came home from school which a large rolled up piece of paper. He unrolled it and it was a Chrismas tree that he had drawn, coloured in and cut out. It was about 4 foot tall. He had spent his lunch hours making it.

We stuck it to the wall with blue tack, sticky taped ornaments to it and that was our Christmas tree for that year.
Click to expand...

That is so sweet:).
 
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