With 10 days left until Christmas, I guess Santa is done checking his list. I think I might have made the “Tried” list. I need something in the middle of naughty and nice. I hope Santa has his act together better than I do. How does a holiday sneak up on you when you know about it all year long?

This time of year makes me skip down memory lane to the days I worked in the shopping center management world organizing things like Santa Claus and Easter Bunny. The first mall I worked at, Azalea Mall, had a long tradition of a Christmas parade the weekend before Thanksgiving. There were quite a number of bands, police on horses, characters and other local groups that participated in the parade that eneded with the arrival of Santa on a firetruck

We had a few Santas that worked during the season. We had a wonderful man and his wife (who played Mrs. Claus and helped with the pictures) during the week, a different Santa at night and a few over the weekend. Long before digital cameras, we had the Polaroid cameras and you had to order film and picture holders for the season in August. Santa costumes had to be cleaned and beards pulled from storage, washed and dried. There’s a whole business to Santa Claus.

One year we had a Santa who needed no padding. Three times he split his pants. I would come in on Monday morning to find his pants on my desk with a note “It’s cold out and you don’t want Santa to freeze his balls off, please mend my pants.” The first time it was funny, the second it was worthy of an eye-roll and the third time I wanted to cry. We had another Santa that begged to work the “Breakfast with Santa” event and then came so hungover the smell of breakfast was making his gag.

Azalea Mall wasn’t the top tier of malls and we needed something a bit different to bring in business. I came up with the idea of having a Santa for the deaf. My sister knew someone with ties to the deaf community and she introduced me to a group that helped me find a Santa that could sign and also help spread the word. We weren’t sure if lots of people would show or what, but we really did have a good turnout. Interestingly enough, we had more deaf adults than kids. They came because they had never been able to visit with Santa. The newspaper came out to cover the event. A sliver of feel-good in the otherwise crazy world of the retail during Christmas.

If you haven’t already heard or read David Sedaris’ “Santaland Diaries” I urged you to do so this year. Sedaris tells the story of his experience as an Elf at Macy’s. It is such a wonderful behind the scene glimpse of the nuttiness of the whole business of Santa. You won’t look at a mall or store Santa again in the same way. Listen or read it here.

I think I’ll close tonight with a link to one of my favorite Christmas songs.