{"id":17112,"date":"2026-03-10T13:48:56","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T13:48:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/uncategorized\/the-good-book-santa\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T06:03:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T06:03:00","slug":"the-good-book-santa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/inspiring-stories\/people-helping-people\/the-good-book-santa\/","title":{"rendered":"The Good Book Santa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Christmas begins early for me.<\/p>\n<p>In the fall I take my red suits out of storage and get them cleaned. Then I start lifting weights and doing crunches. I need to get strong so I can lift kids up on my lap.<\/p>\n<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ada4f91 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"ada4f91\" data-element_type=\"container\" id=\"home-banner-stn\">\n<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-72e6e8eb elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"72e6e8eb\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Community Newsletter<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-261bcec elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"261bcec\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Get More Inspiration Delivered to Your Inbox<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"elementor-element 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\/>\n                <script id=\"nf-tmpl-cell\" type=\"text\/template\">\n            <nf-fields><\/nf-fields>\n        <\/script><\/p>\n<p>        <script id=\"nf-tmpl-row\" type=\"text\/template\">\n            <nf-cells><\/nf-cells>\n        <\/script><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>By November I bleach the roots in my beard and hair. My hair is a natural gray\u2013what\u2019s left of it, anyway\u2013but to really get it that straight-from-the-North-Pole snowy white, I need a little help.<\/p>\n<p>I get out the little leather-bound book I use for writing down children\u2019s names. But the book, the beard, the fur-trimmed suits, they\u2019re not what make me a real Santa. That comes from something I discovered years ago.<\/p>\n<p>I grew up right here in High Point. I was a shy, overweight kid, the third-string tackle on the football team and third-chair violinist in the orchestra. The kind of guy who was content to stay in the background.<\/p>\n<p>My social life consisted of pizza parties and bowling nights with the church youth group, where I never said much. The one person I really talked to was my father.<\/p>\n<p>Dad was a kind, gentle man who ran the print shop in town. He\u2019d never learned to drive, so he walked everywhere, and some mornings he even walked me to school.<\/p>\n<p>Those mornings were magical. We talked about everything\u2013sports, school, his business, the family. I didn\u2019t need to be Mr. Popular, surrounded by friends, when I had the best friend I could ever dream of\u2013my dad.<\/p>\n<p>Then one Labor Day weekend he rode with my uncle to Camp Lejeune to pick up my cousins who were being discharged from the service. They were hit by an oncoming car. Dad was killed instantly.<\/p>\n<p>I was 15 and determined to be brave and strong for my mother and younger brother. <em>You\u2019ve got to take care of them now<\/em>, I told myself.<\/p>\n<p>At the funeral service, I held back my tears. It was tough. Afterward, I went back to my routine\u2013football practice, orchestra rehearsal, pizza parties with the Methodist Youth Fellowship.<\/p>\n<p>But I knew life would never be the same. How could it be, without my best friend? Those walks to school were so lonely now, every step a reminder that Dad was no longer at my side.<\/p>\n<p>That December everyone in my youth group was excited about the Christmas party we were putting on for the children at the local mission. The other kids in the group set to making construction paper chains and wrapping presents, but I just sat at the table, not feeling like celebrating.<\/p>\n<p>Our youth leader cornered me. \u201cCliff, we\u2019ve got a special job for you at the party.\u201d What would I have to do? Lead a game of musical chairs? Play my violin? I didn\u2019t want to be the center of attention when I was barely keeping it together. \u201cWe want you to be our Santa this year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>I couldn\u2019t muster the energy to argue, so I said okay. Maybe our youth leader figured I\u2019d be honored. But I was sure he picked me because I was the fattest kid in the group. Very little padding necessary.<\/p>\n<p>The day of the party I put on the rented red suit and hat, the wig and the fake cotton beard. I pulled the black belt tight around my waist and took a look in the mirror. I could hardly believe what I saw. The awkward 15-year-old was gone.<\/p>\n<p>In his place stood a jolly, smiling, kindly man. A man who reminded me of my father. I tried a quiet, \u201cHo, ho, ho,\u201d then hoisted the bag of toys onto my shoulder. I was Santa.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagebreak--><\/p>\n<p>It was so easy at the party. I didn\u2019t have to go up to anyone and start a conversation. I sat in front of the Christmas tree, and the kids came to me. My shyness melted away. I felt confident and friendly, like I\u2019d always wished I could be.<\/p>\n<p>After a child told me about what he wanted for Christmas, I said a prayer for him. And with each prayer, each smile I got from a child, my grief receded a little more and Christmas felt more real. <em>Thank you, Lord, for having our youth leader choose me.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Almost every year after that I made sure to be Santa: college parties, my mother-in-law\u2019s Christmas get-together. I went into the printing business, just like Dad, and played Santa at our holiday party. Still, I wondered if there was something more I could do. I wanted to be a great Santa.<\/p>\n<p>Some other Santas told me about the Charles W. Howard Santa Claus School in Midland, Michigan. A Santa school? Who would have thought?<\/p>\n<p>The school was rigorous\u2013only accepting 10 students per year. Classes on proper costumes and makeup and the history of Santa, starting with the real-life Saint Nicholas, who was known for his generosity. Seminars on how to answer children\u2019s questions.<\/p>\n<p>There was even a sleigh with a full team of reindeer so that Santas could practice waving to a crowd at a parade. \u201cI want to go to this school,\u201d I told my wife, Janie.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGo,\u201d Janie said. \u201cIt\u2019s important to you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At first I was intimidated. The other student Santas were so convincing with their beards, jolly voices, twinkling eyes. They were naturals. \u201cI\u2019m not sure I\u2019m cut out to do this,\u201d I said to Tom Valent, the dean of the school.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCliff,\u201d he said, \u201chere\u2019s the secret. When you get back to your hometown, you are Santa. Just be the best Santa you can be.\u201d Soon enough I\u2019d earned my degree.<\/p>\n<p>Now that I\u2019d learned so much about the figure of Santa, I was able to take my portrayal to the next level. Santa first appears in Clement Clarke Moore\u2019s 1823 poem <em>The Night Before Christmas<\/em>, but there he\u2019s a \u201cright jolly old elf\u201d in brown and covered in soot.<\/p>\n<p>The big man with the white beard and red suit showed up later, in Civil War-era cartoons by the artist Thomas Nast. I found a Nast sketch of Santa in red-and-white striped pants handing out presents to the Union troops.<\/p>\n<p>I took that picture to a seamstress and had her design a costume just like it. I even got wool fabric from a Gettysburg weaver who made uniforms for Civil War re-enactors.<\/p>\n<p>I designed other costumes too. One in burgundy velvet with reindeer buttons, another with brass buttons with the letters \u201cS.C.\u201d For cold weather I had a couple of capes made, a green one with trim and another made from an old quilt of my grandmother\u2019s (I call it the cape of many colors).<\/p>\n<p>I grew out my beard and discovered that if I bleached it every once in a while, it really did look convincing.<\/p>\n<p>One evening Janie and I were having dinner out when I noticed a little girl staring at me. Finally she came over to our table. \u201cExcuse me, sir, but are you Santa\u2019s brother?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy, Jessica?\u201d I said. \u201cDo you think I look like Santa?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her eyes grew wide. \u201cSee,\u201d she said to her parents. \u201cHe is Santa! He knows my name.\u201d What neither her parents nor I reminded her was that her name was printed on her hairband.<\/p>\n<p>Every year I play Santa 50 times in a two-month period. I\u2019ve been in parades, shopping malls, photographers\u2019 studios. I listen to hundreds of children tell me what they want for Christmas, their hopes and dreams.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagebreak--><\/p>\n<p>Sometimes they\u2019re shy. \u201cWould you like to be in my book of Good Boys and Girls?\u201d I ask.<\/p>\n<p>I dig in my pocket\u2013I had my seamstress sew it special\u2013and pull out my little leather-bound book. The children come closer and peer at its pages. If their name isn\u2019t there, I write it down in perfect Santa script.<\/p>\n<p>The book isn\u2019t just for them. It\u2019s also for me, because I pray for every child who visits me. That\u2019s the one thing I can give them.<\/p>\n<p>I remember what it\u2019s like to be a kid\u2013how you sometimes feel awkward and lonely. Once I noticed a boy who looked to be about eight, waiting in the back of a crowd until the others had finished. Then he walked up and whispered, \u201cSanta, all I want is for everyone to quit calling me names on the bus.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked at him and could see the boy I\u2019d once been. \u201cI know exactly what you\u2019re going through,\u201d I told him. \u201cWhat I\u2019m going to do is write your name in my book and when I get home tonight, I\u2019m going to say a prayer for you and ask God to help those children be as nice as you are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes people will tell me, \u201cYou know, Jesus is the real reason for the season.\u201d I totally agree. We celebrate the miraculous birth of our savior.<\/p>\n<p>But Santa represents the spirit of giving, and that\u2019s important too, even miraculous sometimes. Because, as I discovered at that youth group Christmas party so many years ago, bringing joy to others brings out the best in you.<\/p>\n<p><em>Download your FREE ebook, <a href=\"http:\/\/guideposts.org\/free-ebooks\/prayer-every-need\/download\">A Prayer for Every Need, by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christmas begins early for me. In the fall I take my red suits out of storage and get them cleaned. Then I start lifting weights and doing crunches. I need to get strong so I can lift kids up on my lap. Community Newsletter Get More Inspiration Delivered to Your Inbox Notice: JavaScript is required [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[199],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[1860],"class_list":["post-17112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people-helping-people"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Good Book Santa - Guideposts Articles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Good Book Santa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Christmas begins early for me. 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