The Beginnings

I started this journey quite a few years ago, after my father put on the suit for 32 years. He was the chef at Wakonda Club in Des Moines and the manager gave him the suit for him to come to the kid's Christmas party at the club. So he did that and visited 4 families for all 32 years. He saw generations grow up. My former sister-in-law worked for General Growth. She commented that I should put the suit on. So I gave it a try.

My very first event was a walk around at K-Mart. My wife dropped me off back from the door. As I walked up, I heard SANTA, SANTA. As I looked around for the source and saw a young gal, about 4, pulling her dad across the parking lot. When she got to the sidewalk she broke free and she did a 50 yard dash to me. Thankfully I got down on one knee because as I opened my arms to her, she ran into them and almost knocked me over. She said, "I love you Santa".

A warm feeling came over me, like something I never felt before. I said to myself, I want to do this the rest of my life. And as they say in movies, the rest is history.