Santa's beginning, 2005

In early 2006, Santa David wrote the following reflection on his first year as a real-bearded Santa, a second career that emerged out of his retirement and his decision to stop shaving.

2005 has been an interesting year, the year I retired from full-time employment from Saint Francis Hospital after 15 years on January 31. Jan. 31st was also the last day I shaved my face.

After several months of goofing off, I volunteered at the Saint Francis Gift Shop, helping with the POS (Point of Sale) software beginning at the 1st of May....

By the end of October, my beard had grown to about 3-3 ½ inches and was looking a lot like a Santa Claus beard, so it was decided to purchase a "Santa suit".

I made by debut as Santa for the Saint Francis Gift Shop in their Christmas kick-off in November. My next "gig" was for the pediatric ward at Saint Francis Hospital, it was a great experience. (11/25/2021 - There are pictures of our visit. This was the Premies ward where some of the babies extremely small. One of the babies, I could have held in one hand, it was so small. WDB)

Then I went to our class Sunday School Christmas party, an appearance at the Hispanic Christmas party.

A performance of the Tulsa Boys Singers with our Joseph at Philbrook Museum gave me the opportunity to visit with their Santa Claus, consequently, they gave me the opportunity to be Santa at Philbrook on 2 different weekends. During those occasions, I had several special memories, a young 20 something Tunisian girl, said I was the first Santa she had ever met. The baby of a young couple had just been dedicated at their church and was visiting the museum that afternoon and had a picture taken with Santa and their baby. An 84-year-old mother and her daughter, a group of about 8 ladies all having fun had a group picture taken.

A 5-6-year-old young girl came up announcing that she was the great grand daughter of Bob Wills. During the conversation she abruptly stopped and commented that I was dressed like Santa Claus. I told her I was Santa Claus. She looked at me, then said "no, you're not; you don't...". She stopped, her attention went towards where her family were, and she took off.

My favorite visit as Santa was to visit Omega Klein, a 96-year-old member of our Sunday School class, who had been house bound for several months, had as much fun as I did.

The next event, I had a 2 hour visit at Camp Loughridge, I don't know what I enjoyed the most, the visit, getting paid $75 for it or the reaction of the children.

An earlier visit to a young adult Sunday School Class to deliver gifts to a young lady and her two children, it was exciting and a great blessing.

Finally, a Christmas eve visit to Vanessa Kusler and her 3 daughters, and other members of her family, and later in the day, a visit to Penny Thomas, her son and nieces. It made a very special Christmas for me and Sandy. It will be a year to remember.

P.S. I wonder what next year will bring????