Summer Time Santa

I don’t know if y’all read the comments that many of the readers leave after my articles, but I found Mooseheads reply the other day quite amusing. He wrote: ” Walking down an aisle of a grocery store, a lady with toddler in the driver's seat of a grocery cart approached and the little kid pointed his snotty finger at me in wonder and said questioningly "Pere Noel?"

I’ve seen photos of Moosehead, and he kind of does look like Santa in the modern sense.

The Santa that was engrained in my head as a child was one that was extremely obese with a long flowing curly white beard. He had a bulbous red nose and red cheeks and he smoked a pipe.

Somehow the modern Santa promotional machine has turned Santa into the image of a rather fit senior citizen. Moosehead isn’t old enough to be a senior yet, but his prematurely white beard could easily fool a child in a grocery store.

When I was growing up there was a famous Santa in my town. He was a superstar every December. He really looked the part. He was fat, had a rosy complexion and he had a long curly real white beard. He smoked a pipe and looked children in the eye when ever he saw them.

After Christmas was over you could still see him in town, usually going into or out of Pelzer’s Tavern. I don’t think he worked during the other eleven months of the year.

Since I saw him more often during the year than in December, I titled him “The Summer Time Santa.” My mother even called him that.

I think of this and how many Santa character actors have employment challenges during the other eleven months of the year. Maybe someone can organize them. They could form a company that makes toys. Moosehead can open the Canadian franchise. Opportunity knocks for all those with white beards and the Santa demenor.