Santa returns to Harrisburg, but first....

I think the title kind of says it all. Read below and I think you will agree. Where to begin?


Last Wednesday I received a call from NBC TV asking my permission to pitch a story on me to their producers. They said they read my blog, and the newspaper article written about me in the local paper after last Christmas. Well, being a true "Talent" I said sure. To be honest, I never expected them to call back saying yes. But early the next morning, they called saying that they were going to be at my house the following Wednesday (November 4th) at 9am.

I was fine with it, as was Mrs. Claus, but I found out she and I had a different level of "FINE." I thought they would just stay in the living room and do their thing...so no need to go on a major cleaning spree. Santa was sooooo wrong! The first thing Mrs. Claus said to me was, "Where are you going to go for the next 3 days?" No joke! Being the well-in-tuned Santa that I am, I asked "Why?" and let me just say it was not the correct word for the time.

I did stay home, but several friends offered to hide me at their homes until the "all clear" was given.


So with the "word" given, I was handed my Honey-do list; and no joke, it was almost as long as the Naughty list. So off we all went to make my clean home a surgical suite the Mayo brothers could work in. We cleaned...moved furniture...cleaned the underside of the Couch - no surface was above cleaning. And did we just stay in the living room? Nope. Next was the dining area...then the kitchen. Now remember, I felt we had a clean nice home, and they would NEVER go in the kitchen. Remember that word - NEVER.


Well 9am came (the day before leaving for Harrisburg) and the "Talent" was in proper Santa attire. Now you have to realize that Santa would not wear his coat and hat in his own house...so I placed them nicely on the couch. The TV Crew came at 9am sharp, I greeted them at the door, and they said, "Let's set up in the kitchen!" Mrs. Claus was no where even close to me and I still felt the BIFF on the back of my head.


The NBC Crew was very nice and polite, and they shot footage in the living room, kitchen, dining area, and with me Skyping on the computer. We talked about how Santas should be protecting themselves from the H1N1 virus, and about my idea of Skyping with sick children over the internet. This idea came to me from all the sick kids out there right now, and a little girl with cancer who came to see me last year wearing a mask but still could not come closer than 10 feet away because her immune system was too low. With Skyping there is NO danger of getting each other sick, and the children will still have quality time with Santa.

The NBC TV crew stayed just over an hour, and told me the story would air later...but no date was set. That afternoon I received a call from them saying that the story would be aired that night during the 10 o'clock news. When they had got back to the station, they decided that the story was so good the producers said it's on tonight unless something big happens.

I quickly called a few people in my Santa posse and let them know the Big Guy would be on and they should make a night of it. So with a full hour of taping Santa, his house (outside), and the street sign at the end of the block (Holly St), they must of had a mile of tape on the floor because it was all condensed to 2 minutes! It was good, but it could have been much better with more of Me in it. They did post a slightly extended version on their Web page at Kare11.com.


Here are a couple of links:


www.kare11.com/news/health/takekare/takekare_article.aspx?storyid=827864


www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=827864&catid=14


The second one listed is the video link. Please allow it to load and the commercial before the "Talent" comes on. Try to contain yourself.


Well off to bed, and more bloging very soon!


Santa Joe