SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2011 • THE BULLETIN
C7
SUDOKU
Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x3 box contains every digit from 1 to 9 inclusively.
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Santa Continued from C1 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.”
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Ryan Brennecke / The Bulletin
Four-year-old Noah Oliver tells Santa, who sometimes goes by Don Senecal, what he wants for Christmas during a recent visit to DD Ranch in Terrebonne. Senecal said even children in the most unfortunate circumstances are happy to see Santa.
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