Tallannie's husband.... :-)

[tallannie]

Frank was Father Christmas this year... we just got back from traveling to see our grandkids and found this article in the local paper...

http://bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dl...WS01/112250338

[Motorcycle Forum]

[300winmag]

It says "Sorry, that article is no longer available".

[tallannie]

Yikes !! gosh it still works for me...??? and it has only been a couple of days???

here it is again... perhaps something got copied wrong?
http://bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dl...WS01/112250338

[tallannie]

What I really want for Christmas ...
Santas hear all kinds of requests, from the cute to the philanthropic to the downright funny
By Heidi Hagemeier
/ The Bulletin

[IMG]aolemb://E262D22B-91D0-4828-8A93-38D7BB804C8E/santa3-small.jpg[/IMG]

In William Walther's nearly two-and-a-half decades of donning Santa's iconic red suit, he has fielded numerous requests for Barbies and Legos, Xboxes and video games.
But Walther has also been asked to bless the children of Ethiopia, to bring daddy home from a faraway war or to put a new nose on Grandma so she doesn't snore so much.
Those in the know say Santa's lap isn't just a place for children to plead for the latest coveted tech gizmo. Children, these white-bearded men say, can become generous, poignant or downright funny once seated on Santa's lap.
Thus being Santa requires flexibility, thinking on the fly and sometimes a good sense of humor.
“There are so many sunny, sweet kids it just melts your heart,” said Paul Evers, who has also been known as Santa for the last five years in Bend's Old Mill District. “They have the most pure intentions.”
Requests to meet the reindeer or not let the dog die require quick thinking on Santa's part. He can only do so much but doesn't want to put a damper on the magic behind the man from the North Pole.
Yet off-topic questions are to seasoned Santas an important part of what the work is all about.
“I think this is an extremely important job,” said Walther, who spends this time of year at the Bend River Promenade. “Why is Santa important? To learn to give. You should want to give like Santa does.”
Selfless wishes
Perhaps surprisingly, some children aren't desperate to ask for that Red Ryder BB gun when they meet Santa.
Frank Graham, who served this year at the High Desert Museum as the Victorian-era Father Christmas, estimated that only 25 percent of the children asked for a gift.
“Most of them don't even ask for stuff,” Don Senecal concurred. He appeared at the DD Ranch in Terrebonne this year. “They ask how you're doing. They aren't all Eartha Kitt — ‘Santa baby, bring me a Cadillac.' ”
Evers experienced a first this year: A boy gave him a Silipint silicone pint glass with cookies inside. “He thought nobody ever gives Santa a gift,” Evers said.
A girl asked Evers — with no undertone of sadness — that her parents be happy. Another girl asked him to make sure her dog, cat and rabbit have the opportunity to visit the veterinarian. When he asked why, she said they aren't sick but she wants them to remain happy and healthy.
While many philanthropic requests seem tender, others veer into adult topics that imply burdens for children beyond their years.
Walther, for instance, said he routinely gets asked for daddy to find a job or come home from military service or prison.
Graham, who has assisted as Santa both here and previously in Portland kindergarten classes, was asked by a girl this year to please visit a neighboring boy's house. Santa didn't go there last year.
He also recalled a boy in Portland who confided that his brother was sick all the time. He asked Santa to make his brother well. Graham replied that the best he could do was to wish for the boy's parents to find the right, special person to help.
“It's not a very satisfactory answer for an adult,” Graham said. “But it's OK for a child.”
In that same class, a boy from an immigrant family said, “Santa, will you please come to my house this year? You've never come to my house before.”
“A lot of these kids,” Graham said, “they came from an ethnic background in which Santa Claus isn't a big part of their heritage. Then they're here and getting bombarded by Santa.”
Graham talked to the teacher to arrange for a present to be delivered to the home.
Reindeer and other requests
Despite some moments of pathos, the vast majority of requests to Santa remain in happy territory.
Senecal has over the years volunteered in the red suit at low-income housing projects and homeless shelters like the Bethlehem Inn. He said even for children in the most desperate situations, the magic of Santa is real.
“I've never seen children more resilient,” he said of visits to the Bethlehem Inn. “When Santa walks in the room they will laugh, they will smile.”
Quirky questions abound, from cookie preferences to Santa tactics. Requests to see the reindeer — or take one home as a pet — are commonplace.
“The agricultural kids always want to know what they eat and how they keep warm,” Graham said of Rudolph and company. “They want to compare with the cattle.”
Ron Henderson, who serves as Santa in the Old Mill District and at his workplace, Saxon's Fine Jewelers, said one child was deeply concerned about his house's lack of chimney and brought Santa a detailed drawing as a guide.
“It had arrows pointing to all the places where I could get into the house,” Henderson said.
Santa at times becomes a co-conspirator, working with parents who slip him a note or set up the scenario beforehand.
Evers said he has dampened a 4-year-old child's hope for a puppy and urged a 3-year-old to consistently use the potty on behalf of parents.
“When the parent said, ‘Will you help potty-train my son?' I said, ‘Absolutely, as long as he makes the switch after he gets off my lap.' ”
Faithfully doing homework remains a mainstay request for Walther. But he has helped with other interludes, even for adults.
One year it was for a couple — with the woman on one knee and the man on the other, he facilitated their engagement.
Another year he told a man that Santa already had a gift for him, and then presented his wife's positive pregnancy test.
Through it all, those moonlighting in the red suit say the challenges of the job — crying kids, hot suits and bizarre names they must repeat in a flash — are worth all the fun.

“If I could wish a wish for people, it would be that they could be Santa for at least an hour,” Senecal said. “It's unconditional love.”
— Reporter: 541-617-7828, hhagemeier@bendbulletin.com
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From bendbulletin.com - published daily in Bend, Oregon, by Western Communications, Inc. Copyright 2005.

[QZephyr]

What an excellent write-up. Thanks for sharing with us. My wife still doesn't believe in Santa. She totally misses the point. Happy New Year!

[Alan_Hepburn]

We took our 9-month old grandson to see Santa at the local mall, and needless to say grandson was a wee bit "apprehensive" at sitting in Santa's lap. So how does Santa try to help? He looks at our grandson and says "Don't worry - Santa's not real. I'm just a guy dressed in a red suit." Fortunately, at 9 months Frankie won't remember that!