There’s no time better than Christmas time. The scent of Christmas trees lingering in the air. The Christmas lights twinkling in the night. Making lists and checking it 3 times. And there’s a joyful spirit that is absolutely contagious.
It’s been a tradition for our hotel to fly in Santa Clause every Christmas Eve. We like to add our own island flavor by bringing him via helicopter which lands on our putting green. Every year I’ve been lucky enough to see Santa fly in and every year I still enjoy watching kid’s faces light up. There’s a certain magic that you can see in them when they see the red and white suit peeking through the windows of the helicopter.
Every year, I work the morning shift so I can go to our family party in the evening. It’s one of the 2 days a year that I work the shift because I’m far from a morning person. The day starts off as any ordinary morning does. Without much of a warning, my General Manager opens the door and asks me if I’d be interested in being Santa Clause today. I had a silent jump for joy going on in my head and instantly thought about the opportunity to cross off an item from my bucket list. Because I’ve never shared my bucket list with him, I didn’t want to start acting all giddy though I really was.
But then the nervousness kicked in. We all act like Santa for the hell of it. We all say “Ho! Ho! Ho!” in a playful manner but it’s never been where I had to upkeep the Santa Clause performance. I had the jitters; the type that hits you when it’s your wedding day, when your sister or best friend is about to give birth, or the type of jitters you get when you wake up and its prom day. I had so many things running through my head; how should I act, how should I sound, should I hug the kids or shake their hands, the questions were endless. I started cramming every guest name, room number, and face in my head so I could use it while in character. My excitement grew as the time ticked down. I couldn’t believe I was about to do this. Being a front desk person at a hotel, I’ve come to realize that I’m in the business of making peoples dreams come true. For some of these guests, being here on Maui is their dream having come true, I just want our hotel to add a little sparkle to it, and being that I now have the power to, and I’m definitely capitalizing on this. I’ve never been one to want the spotlight on me (When I was the employee of the year at our hotel, I refused to take a picture). However, now that I’m hiding behind a red suit and a white beard the attention became more bearable for me.
After a short drive to Blue Hawaiian Helicopter , my nerves were in overdrive. It was excitement coming from all angles. I checked in with their desk and got weighed and off to the bathroom I went to get transformed. I had about 40 minutes to relax before my sleigh took off and about 30 of them were spent in the bathroom pacing the floors and putting on my costume. Before I knew it, the bathroom door was being knocked on summoning me, I mean Santa. In years past, Santa Clause was always joined by random passengers who enjoyed the quick drop off. To my surprise, it was only me and the pilot on this trip. The beautiful view really took my mind off of what was about to happen. After driving the same roads for most of my life, Maui looked way different while looking down upon it.
Maui Hill is in sight. I pulled the beard up, made sure the glasses were fastened and my hat was good. I zipped up the suit and made sure my shoes were hidden. As we’re descending, I’m waving “shaka” to the hundreds below as they’re waving to Santa. Surprisingly, my jitters were gone. I hop out of the helicopter, greet my General Manager, and here we go. I’m also greeted by a mob of children and cameras. For the first minute or so, I had no idea where to go or what to do, though I’ve seen it done so many times. I start yelling “Merry Christmas” and “Mele Kalikimaka” to everyone as they’re yelling it back to me. I shake hands and take pictures with as many people as I can. As I start walking up to my “Santa’s Chair” at our poolside, I’m joined by legions of kids. I felt like a superstar being followed by his fans. It was an unbelievable feeling.
After sitting down for a few short seconds, a swarm of parents with their children are waiting for the picture to be taken with Santa. Kids are shaking my hand and hugging me with smiles from ear to ear. Of course some were shrieking with fear but most eventually warmed up to me. I’m asking their name and asking them what they want for Christmas. I was surprised though; that a lot of kids still had no idea what they wanted for Christmas. Being that I was a last minute replacement, not too many of the staff or my family members knew it was me until late. When they finally did realize it, their expressions were priceless. For almost 2 hours, I lived a dream by helping people live theirs. The countless pictures that I took and the hundreds of smiles I got from the children were the best.
This was definitely a monumental moment in my life and it’s one that I’m going to cherish for as long as I live. Even if being Santa Clause for the holidays wasn’t on my Bucket List, it would have been one of the more memorable moments for me, though I’m glad that it was.
On the upside, when I came back to work the following Monday, I was greeted with rave reviews from the staff and guests. One guest had told my General Manager that I was great with the kids. Another guest had told him that I was the best Santa we’ve ever had. Lucky for me, I was told to block my Christmas Eve for 2011 because I was now working, regardless if I want to or not. I have no problem with that. HO! HO! HO!
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