So my bridge partner and I are playing in a tournament in Gatlinburg Tennessee and we kept noting all these large white bearded older men walking around the streets. Like a lot of them.
Turns out there is a Santa Convention going on at the Center next door.
I so want to attend but it seems you have to send them a picture first to see if you qualify to register. Sigh. No white flowing beard here. So which seminar are you disappointed to be missing?
Gatekeeping in the Santa scene cracks me up for some reason.
I love the instructions at the bottom for signing up for the newsletter–real first name and real last name ONLY, no “Santa” or “Mrs. Claus” or “Elf.” I also like the statement “We had many emails undeliverable do to spelling errors, Spam blockers, and Filters.” (Due tell.)
On a more serious note, I thought the “Santa’s Heart” workshops on dealing with kids who are neurodivergent, Deaf, or “dealing with Death, Grief, & Bereavement” sounded useful and interesting and I would like to be a fly on the wall for those.
Hmm and the gatekeepers think the santas who regularly don a fake beard every xmas season shouldn’t benefit from workshops like these?
I imagine someone whose job it is to spot fake whiskers guards the door.
Santas are all leaving today, and sadly no parade for 2023. But I will try and keep Christmas in my heart all year.
Talked to a Santa who was loading his truck that had a towed wagon behind. He said the convention had 600 Santas this year. This did not include the many (long-suffering?) Mrs. Clauses.
The jolly white-bearded guy’s wagon was filled with a bunch of fake holiday greenery and had a large upside down plastic reindeer stowed in the middle, feet sticking up. I imagine on the highway this looks like a hunter returning with a trophy.