BY RYAN E. SMITH
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Yes, there is a Santa Claus. Not that you asked me.
Maybe you didn't think of me because I'm Jewish, but if Neil Diamond, Bette Midler, Barry Manilow, Kenny G, and Barbra Streisand all can make Christmas albums, I can weigh in on the Santa debate.
In this age of DNA testing and cold cases, when science is supposed to be able to prove anything, it might seem harder than ever to believe in a jolly, jiggly, geriatric man with a stable full of flying reindeer. It's especially true this year when so many economic signs have pointed south instead of to the North Pole. Maybe that's why there's an entire industry to convince doubters that Father Christmas is no myth.
Gone are the days when it was enough for kids to see an empty milk glass and cookie crumbs on the floor on Christmas morning. For the CSI generation, you're more likely to need the Santa Claus Evidence Kit. Available through Web sites like Midwest Carnival in Swanton (midwestcarnival.com), it contains thank you notes from the Jolly Old Elf and various items, including a sleigh driver's license, that he may have left behind in his haste.
Hearing the poem that begins “'Twas The Night Before Christmas” may not make Santa any more real to kids than other story-time staples these days, but what about seeing his boot tracks sprinkled throughout the house and around the Christmas tree? The Web site advertises special boot stencils and snow crystals to help with those too.
For decades, members of the U.S. Postal Service have processed countless letters addressed to Santa. Now, Kris Kringle has gone high-tech. Kids can write to Santa and receive responses at emailsanta.com. Even the North American Aerospace Defense Command gets into the act, tracking Santa's Christmas Eve flight at noradsanta.org, using, it says, “radar, satellites, Santa Cams and fighter jets.” This has been going on since 1955, when a misprinted phone number in a Sears ad put kids in touch with NORAD's predecessor instead of Santa.
All of this is a lot of work to get kids to believe, but it's nothing compared to the biggest proof of all: actually seeing Santa. I've tried to help, filling in for St. Nicholas at the mall and learning some of his tricks during a couple of days observing classes at a Santa school in Midland, Mich.
Turns out I'm not the best man for the job, and not just because of my religion. Or the fact that I don't know all of the reindeer names. Or my thin figure. Let's just say when a kid asks you what you feed the reindeer, the correct answer is not Snausages dog treats.
A better example would be Larry Bennett, of Monroe, a Santa veteran who works malls and also has made house calls. The 62-year-old answers all of the kids' questions with aplomb. Spend a few minutes with him and you'll feel silly that you ever asked how Santa could possibly make it to every kid's house in the world in one night. (Santa can stop time around him and get stuff done, the same way Larry can take a limp magician's rope and make it straight — duh!)
Some adults may not agree with this focus on maintaining the “realness” of Santa and discard it under the notion that it's lying to kids. For Larry, though, stoking the belief in Santa comes with the purest of motives.
His Santa arrives carrying small gifts like candy canes and coloring books, and asks children to pay-it-forward. His Santa listens to requests for gifts but also offers hope to the little ones who only want Santa to bring them enough money so that they can buy a present for a parent.
To Larry, making Santa real is so important because it's a lesson in generosity.
“It's more or less making a belief in not so much the Santa image itself but the essence of Santa,” he said.
And that's a belief worth keeping alive as long as possible.
Originally published in The Blade on Friday, December 18, 2009
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