{"id":17,"date":"2019-06-29T17:18:17","date_gmt":"2019-06-29T17:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mylakewoodsanta.com\/?page_id=17"},"modified":"2019-06-29T17:18:17","modified_gmt":"2019-06-29T17:18:17","slug":"how-heaven-taught-santa-to-believe","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.mylakewoodsanta.com\/?page_id=17","title":{"rendered":"How Heaven Taught Santa to Believe"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cHas anyone ever said YOU look like Santa Claus?
Well, that was how it all began.<\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Immediately I\u00a0noticed the man asking the\u00a0question looked just like me.\u00a0 He introduced himself and invited me to join him and his friends for lunch.\u00a0 Said they were members of an organization of \u201cReal Bearded Santa\u2019s.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 During my 20 years as a professional actor and director I considered playing the part of Santa Claus at one time or another. \u00a0For me being Santa Claus would just be another part to play.\u00a0 \u201cAll the worlds a stage . . .\u201d \u2013\u00a0William Shakespeare<\/p>

But I never seriously consider it. First of all I was too young, too light-weight, too busy, too preoccupied, too self absorbed, too busy, etc. Then I joined these men for lunch and suddenly I was surrounded by individuals who looked \u201cjust like me.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Maybe my self-image wasn\u2019t keeping up with my advancing years.\u00a0 Maybe I wasn\u2019t who I thought I was.\u00a0 Just maybe the time for me to become Santa Claus had come.<\/p>

The real test came when I realized I would have to financially commit to an investment in some equipment.\u00a0 First of all Santa had to have a suit.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t pretend to be the Spirit of Christmas and expect a theater company to provide me with the equipment.\u00a0 No, I\u2019d have to order some real Santa stuff.\u00a0 I\u2019d have to put up some real money and buy myself a real Santa Suit.<\/p>

At the luncheon I met a gentleman who was very friendly and Santa like.\u00a0 He told me he was a retired physician and he loved being Santa at Christmas time.\u00a0 Well, when my knees stopped banging together I called him and expressed my reservations.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019m prepared to do this.\u201d\u00a0 I told him.\u00a0 \u201cOh, John\u201d he said. \u00a0\u201cYou\u2019re perfect for the part.\u00a0 You have the spirit in you and you\u2019ll be a wonderful Santa.\u00a0 Do you have a suit?\u201d he\u00a0asked. \u00a0(He knew exactly what to say).<\/p>

\u201cNo\u201d I replied.\u00a0 \u201cIt isn\u2019t that.\u201d\u00a0 (Except that\u00a0was exactly what it was).\u00a0 \u201cLook\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve got an extra suit and if you\u2019d like I\u2019ll lend it to you.\u201d\u00a0 Well, I thanked him for his generosity but regretfully declined.\u00a0 Then I took a deep breath\u00a0and thought about it.\u00a0 I called him back and told him how much I appreciated his offer.\u00a0 He had made all the difference in the world to me and his unsolicited kindness had secured my commitment.\u00a0 I told him I was going to order the suit.\u00a0 He said \u201cit\u2019s the . . .<\/p>

LAST SUIT you\u2019ll ever WEAR.\u201d<\/p>

Then the call came. \u00a0\u201cSANTA?\u201d\u00a0 a voice on the other end said.\u00a0 I surprised myself by saying \u201cYes?\u201d\u00a0 A nice man attached to an active duty military unit told me he needed my help.\u00a0 He had somehow waited till the last minute and his company needed a Santa the next day for their Christmas party and could I do it?\u00a0 I told him I would.\u00a0 Now, what was I going to do?<\/p>

I knew the Night Before Christmas so I could close with that and a big MERRY CHRISTMAS. I knew Jingle Bells so I\u2019d start with that and come in singing, Ho, Ho, Ho.\u00a0 They were prepared with gifts for the children so I could pick a package from my Santa Sack and call the child\u2019s name to come up and tell Santa whatever they wanted to tell me.\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cHave you been good\u201d I would ask.\u00a0 \u201cWhat would you like for Christmas?\u201d\u00a0 I could ask the children if they knew the names of my reindeer?\u00a0 We could then name them and sing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.\u00a0 Seemed like a good beginning, middle and end, a plausible program. I knew when I was a young man if I expected to survive a career in the theater I needed to be able to perform independently whenever and wherever.<\/p>

Then I entered the aircraft hanger and came face to face with 200 hundred children and their parents jumping up and down and having a wonderful time.\u00a0 I had my Santa Sack filled with presents and we all sang Jingle Bells.\u00a0 So far, so good.\u00a0 My chair was placed next to a most impressive Ospree attack helicopter which clearly impressed me.\u00a0 Then all of a sudden I saw some commotion at the back of the room.\u00a0 People were moving here and there as something was making its way through the crowd.\u00a0 What immerged was a three and half foot blonde headed baby girl with a bright red-velvet dress, white lace socks and black patten leather shoes.\u00a0 She was running straight towards me just as fast as her little legs would carry her.\u00a0 When she got to me she threw her little arms around me and hugged my knees for all she was worth.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t help but HO, HO, HO.\u00a0 I took her by the shoulders and gently pushed her back so I could see her face and look into her eyes.\u00a0 At that moment I saw something I had never seen before; unconditional love.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t know me.\u00a0 But clearly she loved me.\u00a0 She saw me as a rock star.<\/p>

Now, I knew where to find my story.\u00a0 What my show would be about.\u00a0 What I would do. \u00a0I also knew one very important thing.\u00a0 The look in the eyes of this little girl had touched my heart and showed me the way.\u00a0 I had a HIT SHOW and all I needed to do was write it.<\/p>

At the end of the show the parents of this little girl handed me a sealed letter.\u00a0 They explained their little girl had a question for me and she wanted them to ask me to \u201ctell her the truth.\u201d<\/p>

Dear Santa the letter said \u201chow can you visit all the homes of all the good little girls and boys in the whole world in just one night?\u201d<\/p>

I was so touched by this I determined I would answer the letter and I would do so in as\u00a0honest<\/span>\u00a0a way as I possibly could.\u00a0 The look in this little girls eyes required no less than an honest response.\u00a0 I realized that I wanted this to be a hallmark of my representation of the \u201cSpirit of Christmas\u201d.\u00a0 The letter was signed by the little girl.\u00a0 Her name was HEAVEN.<\/p>

So, I explained to her that it was a SECRET.\u00a0 But I was going to tell her the secret and the answer to her question was that it was MAGIC, CHRISTMAS MAGIC.\u00a0 Yes, that\u2019s right SANTA is a magical Spirit, the Spirit of Christmas.\u00a0 He performs Christmas illusions to illustrate the happiness and joy and the magic of the holiday.\u00a0 The Spirit of Christmas infects the hearts and minds of people all over the world.\u00a0 The joyous expression of giving, sharing love and happiness with others is the foundation of this gift giving festival of life.<\/p>

Sixteen centuries ago a Christian Bishop of Myra gave his entire inheritance to those that needed his help.\u00a0 He believed all mankind were the children of God and therefore they were his children, too.<\/p>

HE BELIEVED that children are the HOPE of the world.<\/p>

And thanks to HEAVEN,<\/p>

I NOW BELIEVE IT TOO.<\/span><\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cHas anyone ever said YOU look like Santa Claus?Well, that was how it all began. Immediately I\u00a0noticed the man asking the\u00a0question looked just like me.\u00a0 He introduced himself and invited me to join him and his friends for lunch.\u00a0 Said they were members of an organization of \u201cReal Bearded Santa\u2019s.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 During my 20 years as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-17","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mylakewoodsanta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mylakewoodsanta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mylakewoodsanta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mylakewoodsanta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mylakewoodsanta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mylakewoodsanta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.mylakewoodsanta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17\/revisions\/18"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mylakewoodsanta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}