A Couple Of Hours In The Life of A Retail Store Santa

Veronica had previously asked me if I would be willing to dress up as Santa Claus and play the jolly fellows role in her store.
I agreed and this last Friday (Black Friday) and yesterday, I did just that for a couple of hours each day.
After doing my part to play Santa, I have to give a lot of credit and kudos to those out there that take on this seasonal weighty job.
Let me tell you, getting dressed for this job can be a little time consuming and downright uncomfortable.
Because I do not have the traditional body structure that Santa has, I needed to tape a couple of pillows around my stomach.
I also found that the beard that "stayed" on my face was attached to some rubber bands that went around my ears. Between the facial hair, beard and the netted head hair, the whole hair ensemble was enough to make a grown man cry. The rubber bands would dig into your ear....that is when they decided to stay in place and the facial hair went up your nose and into the cut out portion for my mouth.
It also gets rather hot in these outfits.
But putting all complaining aside, it was fun the amount of time that I did it.
I had kids of all ages sitting with me, near me or on my knee.
One thing I made sure that I did was to tell them that could sit on my lap/knee, on the arm of my chair or stand/kneel next to me....basically whatever they were comfortable with.
I did have a couple of wardrobe malfunctions.
My beard kept falling off of the right side of my face because the rubber band that was hooked over my right ear kept popping off my ear. I had to get one of my store "elves" help me out as I tried to look nonchalant while holding up the beard to my face with my hands while talking.
The biggest wardrobe malfunction was when I was walking back to an office to take a break, as I was walking through the store, my pants were falling down and I had to walk and hold them up with hand.
Good thing I was able to keep those pants from dropping or else it might have created an International Santa incident.
Below are some photos from my Santa experience:

This young ladies name is Savannah

Savannah is listening very intently to the wise words of wisdom coming from Santa

 I know how you feel there yonug one...I even bore myself at times

 Geesh...I hope Mrs. Claus doesn't see these pictures. Oh My!!!! Guess who took this extortion pics??? 

Later on in the afternoon, Veronica and I took Savannah to the Poulos Christmas House which has become an annual event here on the Outer Banks.  

 Savannah had a great time taking in all of the holiday displays

 Veronica and Savannah leaving after enjoying all of the beautiful displays at the Poulos Christmas House on the OBX. Thanks to the Poulos family for another festive year full of beautifully lit Holiday Season displays