Mrs. Claus has got the Big Guy's Back

I'm working on a series of five articles for the Holiday Gift Guide section of a local paper. Fun work, as I primarily get to interview local businesses and share their ideas and goods related to themes like gifts, decorating, and entertaining. For the only non-business one, I'll get to interview kids about all things Christmas, which will be cool. Nice combination of my child development background and my new "Kathie Reid, journalist" persona, I think.

In the process of working on an article on holiday entertaining, I decided that I'd like to let people know how they can get in touch with Santa to book party appearances. I found him on the web, BELIEVE it or not, and when I called, I spoke with the Mrs. She was incredibly nice (she'd have to be to put up with his being out all night each Christmas Eve), told me a bit about his holiday schedule, and asked me to call back when Santa got home from his day job -- driving a city bus (apparently, delivering gifts and good cheer doesn't bring in a lot of cash). She said he'd be home at 7:00, so I should call then.

I figured that after a long day driving the bus, Santa would want a bit of time to wind down after getting in -- you know, pat the reindeer, sip a little cognac with an elf or two, and put his boots up. So, I sat down to eat dinner at about 6:45, figuring I'd call him when I was done. As I was just about to put my plates in the sink at 7:25, the phone rang, and it was Mrs. Claus. She let me know that Santa had rushed home early in anticipation of my call, and had been sitting by the phone anxiously waiting to hear from me. He had held off eating dinner, too, and really needed to get to bed by 8:00 because he had to get out to drive that bus again early the next morning.

Imagine my dismay...I'd inconvenienced Santa, and Mrs. Claus had to call me out! Of course, I apologized profusely about the misunderstanding, explaining that I wanted to give him some time to relax when he got home -- visions of my name in bold letters on top of the "Naughty" list danced in my head -- but thankfully, Mrs. Claus understood and passed the phone to her bearded fella. He was so nice, and though I assured him I'd make it short, he talked at length about his experiences and left me feeling like I may make the "Nice" list yet.

Now though, I'm understanding how Santa's able to get all that Christmas work done each year...Mrs. Claus definitely has his back!

You can see him and even book him in the Denver area by going to http://www.santamacclaus.com/

Be quick, though...he's a little busy this time of year.