Hello old friends

Hello, well it seems I missed the last few log in's so this is what I am going to do. Nothing... No, I think it would be best if I sum it all up on my new blog Santa Joe 2010. Then we will start off with a bang.

Be kind rewind! I bet most of you don't even know what that means.

Santa Joe

Monday of the last week.

Hi!


We had 306 photos of Santa with his adoring public on this fine Monday! We also had a few animals - five cats (all at one time) and one other cat at a different time, a Golden Retriever, Jack Russel Terrier, Poodle, Chocolate Lab, Black Lab, Rottweiler, and a Yellow Lab.


We also had an extra special guest today. Grandma Claus paid us a friendly visit. She was on her once-a-year visit to Harrisburg. As a reminder, she was Mrs. Claus before most of us were born. Her outfit was made in 1921. She did it with her husband before he passed away. I have to admit, for a lady in her later years she really picks up when she has her Claus outfit on. She really perked up the whole area as well when she walked around and did photos with people. Grandma Claus always has a standing invitation to come back!


Well, Santa needs his sleep because he is as sick as a dog. I absolutely cannot get rid of this stupid infection and it is spreading downward into my chest. I lose my voice multiple times a day, and when I get coughing jags I cough up pretty Christmas green stuff.


So I am off to bed.


Santa

It's Sunday and the Claus hit's 10,000...

Hi there -

Today was to be a quiet day (lol) but somebody forgot to tell my public.

We had 445 photos taken of Santa with his public. We also had a few dogs, and one cat. Let's start with the cat - it was a big kitty that wanted to snuggle into Santa. I had a heck of a time trying to get it to face forward so we could get a photo, but I won. The dogs were as follows - a teacup Yorkie (really cute!), a couple of Multi-Poos, three Black Labs, two Yellow Labs, a Golden Retriever, and a Pit Bull.

Now for those of you that keep track, with us doing 445 photos today we are over 10,000 photos taken for this season so far. We are at a season high of 10,421, and we have four photo days to go. Plus, we are over last year's total for the year, which is 10,345.

So yep, we have a slow year this season, so far...lol

We do have some not-so-happy stuff this time of year as well. Today we had to say good-bye to elf Tasha. She was recalled to the normal duty station so she is done in Harrisburg for this year. And tomorrow, elf Cindy will also leave for her normal duties. It is always sad when elves leave as we never get the group together as a whole until next year. But we still have a Pole to run, and elves stationed all over the world to report on what's going on.

As a reminder to all the watcher elves, the old lists are shredded and sent to central heating on Christmas Day. All lists start new on December 26th of each year.

I know how much we all like pictures, so I am sharing three tonight. The one with the hat is of elf Courtney who was given that hat as a gift. Kind of cool! She loves it. The other two are of the snow AFTER the plows went through for the last time. I will no longer complain about the roads and plowing at the Pole...

SO as everybody is aware, this is an extreamly busy week here in Harrisburg, PA. I have 10+ hour day's until Christmas Eve. Four days, but who's counting.... I know everybody who wants a gift.

Good night,

Santa

Let it snow like home!

Hey there!

Today we only had 156 photo's taken of some hardy souls, and a lot of crazy ones. We only had one dog,and that was a Black Lab. The rest of the people and dogs stayed home like they were told. Even half my elf staff.

You are probably wondering what happened! Well, we got blasted with 12 inches of snow...and it's still snowing. They say it will turn into a Blizzard overnight. Kind of makes me home sick, at least a little.

Due to the weather, BPS and the Mall closed early - as did much of Harrisburg and PA. There was a "no travel" warning issued for most of the state. We are on the light side of the storm as Philly has 20 inches on the ground and it's still coming.

The kids were excited about the snow as some of them had never seen snow before, especially like this. But some were excited to see Santa, and maybe the snow as well.

The Snowman pictured above is new this year, as is the Nutcracker. The picture of the little girl standing on the table of the Slot Car Racetrack is just plain adorable. Just for clarification, there are two Nutcrackers that stand guard at the entrance to Santa's Wonderland. Some days we need them more than you think.

Well, I have a long day tomorrow so I need to Skype Mrs. Claus, then go to bed.

Sweet dreams,

Santa

The first of the last.

Hello,

Well, as the title says, today is the last Friday I am in Harrisburg, PA this year. This is also the start of 10-12 hour days until Christmas Eve. Oh the joy!

Today we had 195 photos of Santa with his public. We only had a couple of dogs which included two Shelties, a Black Lab, a Tasha, and a Yellow Collie.

We are expecting heavy snow tonight and Saturday. Up to 12 inches before its over. So there's two schools of thought, we will be slammed with kids, or we will be dead as can be. I the "Talent" expect to be slammed!

There was a bunch of excited kids today, maybe its the upcoming snow storm but it was really fun to see a bunch of happy kids. When I mean happy, I mean they were jumping, skipping, running, squeeling, giggling, and just plain shaking as they come up to see Santa.

I did tick off a mom today (and I'm okay with that). She was trying to put her crying, shaking-in-fear child in my lap. While the child is wailing in fear, I looked around and saw other parents in line taking pictures and laughing. I felt so sorry for him. I looked at the boy, his tears, and the look in his eyes almost broke my heart. I had to tell the mom to take her child back, and she looked at me and said, "Santa's kind of grumpy!" If you want grumpy, go see the Mall Santa! I was just feeling bad for the child when nobody else was.

I will attempt to post some photos on tomorrow's blog. Today I forgot my camera at the hotel.

Sweet dreams,

Santa

Bite me, I dare you. Twice.

Hey,


Today we had 183 photos taken of the Claus with his public. We also had a few dogs - a Black Lab, Yellow Lab, Long-haired Shepard, Pit bull, Brown Dachshund, Brown/Black Dachshund, Yorkie, Yellow Multi-Poo, and a Shih-Tsu.


I also had what could have been a bad run in with an American Boxer. The dog tried to bite me with two different attempts. The first attempt kind of took me by surprise. As I was holding the dog's collar for the photo, it turned to bite me. I shoved my white fur cuff into it's mouth, grabbed its collar and stuffed my fist in his mouth as he was attempting to bite my hand and wrist. I twisted the collar and flipped the dog onto his back and held it on the floor until the owner came back to blame me for everything. I agreed to attempt a second picture (my mistake) and as soon as the owner let go of the leash, the Boxer was after me. But this time I was ready and in seconds, the dog was again on it's back with my fist under his jaw and my weight putting pressure on the dog. This time the owner grabbed the leash. As I let go, the dog jerked at me. I told the young man to leave with the dog and to not ever bring it back as I was really concerned that kids would get bitten. Elf Jeremy was there (he is a huge dog guy) and he agreed that the dog tried to bite me and that I was right to get them out of here.


Other than the dog attempting to take a chunk out of me, it was an average night...including the kids. They were average too. The only thing above-average is Santa. Need I say more?


Elf Courtney bought Santa a gift of fruit to eat at work. She knows the long days ahead will be a challenge and she is trying to keep Santa as healthy as possible. Speaking of keeping the "Claus" healthy, that ship has sailed as my head cold is in my nose and throat. I keep loosing my voice. Now some people may think that is not so bad, but for a gig that requires talking - it's a problem. However, the kids do like me whispering to them as I try to save what little voice I have.


Tomorrow is my last short shift...and my last laundry day, so I better go and head to bed.


When thinking about Santa, please pray for me. Good night.



Santa

So.

Hey there!

I have yet to see a slow down, but I'm certain I will surely see it on December 25th. I was talking with a supervisor a little while ago who said he was expecting us to do about 40 - 60 photos a day like we did last year. However, I don't remember it ever being that low. We are doing well this year. As of yesterday, the Harrisburg BPS became one of the the top three stores company-wide. I was also told they use a weighted system of photos taken and divide by the total possible packages sold. So we are talking 2 or 3 photo packages can put us in the #1 spot.

Today we had 175 photos taken of little ones...and a few that were not. We also had a few dogs - a few mutts, a Golden Receiver, and a couple of Multi-Poo pups who were only six months old.

We have asked the BPS switchboard to ask people to bring in their dogs during the week as the weekend would be crazy.

Speaking of crazy, I think elf Cindy went around the bend. Or she had almost gone Postal. Maybe she is just going to miss the Dude in the Red Suit as we have less than two handfulls of days left before Christmas. I am sure she will miss me. I would! Elf Cindy will be back on Saturday, so I hope she is better. Her infectious laugh, smile, and sense of humor helps the day go by.

Elf Roxy is, well, a kind-hearted lady I would not mess with. But she will miss me too. Elf Janelle is on the illness list, as is elf Steve. I really hope they don't share with the Claus!

Now as promised, here are some more pictures. The top two pictures are of the crowd before I started today. It looks slow, don't it? The third one is of Santa and a little friend having a chat.

Well, I need my sleep so off I go.

Santa