EP. 9: The Real Santa Claus, a.k.a. ‘Santa’ Ed Taylor, Wishes All A Magnanimous, Merry Christmas!

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome to we are not blowing hot air
powered by oxygen plus I'm Scottand I'm Lauren.
And we're here to help elevateyour IQ on wellness and business
stuff.
That's sometimes misunderstood.
Oh,

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Like recreational oxygen.
Yes.
Let's get smarter with thisweek's guest of we're not
blowing hot air

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Happy, happy holiday holidays.
Happy holidays from us here atwe are not blowing hot air.
Happy holidays, Lauren,

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Merry Christmas, Scott.
You it's the most wonderful timeof the year.
It is.
And here we are in the oh, plusstudio.
We have a beautiful holidayspirit and festivals, presence,
and lights and reads all aroundus.
Yes.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
It's such a great time of year.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
It's the most wonderful.
Yes.
As they say mm-hmmand how ready are you?

Speaker 1 (00:55):
We're pretty ready.
We actually, we started our, ourshopping early this year.
We knew we had to, so we did,and I think we we're just about
done.
Uh, what about you?

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Well, we really, haven't done a lot of shopping
in my family.
We're more do we need travel?

Speaker 1 (01:11):
Okay.
Interesting.
Okay.
So is it ringing a bell for youtoo?
It is.
It is.
Yeah.
Uh, so we started shoppingearly.
You're doing some travel mm-hmm, it's very
interesting.
Uh, back on episode, two wayback in August way back in
August, we talked with ChrisParsons, the e-commerce king of
Canada.
Yeah.

(01:31):
And he talked about those twoexact things.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
I can't even believe it.
I'm I think we should roll thefootage just to make sure that's
what he said.
Should we do that?
Yeah, let's

Speaker 1 (01:40):
Take a look.
Okay.

Speaker 3 (01:41):
If you start connecting those dots, you at to
see the patterns of a shortageof goods.
Um, and I mean, it, it reallytakes common sense too, right?
Like think about 18 months ofCOVID what's the impact and
trickle down effect in all crosssectors of manufacturing and
building products.
And now we're just, we're gonna,we're gonna be a little bit slow
to the market with these things,I think anyways.

(02:03):
And, uh, I mean, that'll be, myadvice is shop early, um, or,
you know, you're gonna have tofind another way to have maybe
it's not product, maybe it'strips because the market's about
open back up and everyone'sgonna take some vacation around
Christmas time and that's theirpresent to each other.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
We were so right.
Uhhuh we were notblowing hot air.
how incredible that's

Speaker 1 (02:25):
True.
That that's true.
I, you know, I, I think it's,it's amazing that Chris was able
to, uh, to see that, that, thatjust shows his expertise.
Yeah.
You know, he,

Speaker 2 (02:35):
Because now supply supply change shortage.
That is a that's how you saidChristmas twister.
Yeah.
Of the tongue, um, that didhappened.
And I think it was like, uh,late October is when new, the
news media really picked up onthat.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
Yeah.
So, uh, they were a little lateto the game.
Mm-hmm I mean, incomparison to, to Chris's
predictions, so right.
Uh, it, you know, I personally,I felt a little bit lucky to
have been able to talk with himand kind of gain that insight.
He told you what's up.
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yeah.
Well, that's good.
I mean, he, he did make someother predictions.
He did let's, let's take a lookat that one and see how right he
was.
Or we were

Speaker 1 (03:18):
Matt.
We can include ourselves.
Yeah.
Roll that

Speaker 2 (03:20):
Clip.
Let's do it.

Speaker 3 (03:22):
If products are, are slow to arrive and they're not
gonna come in until, you know,some of them might not even make
shelf until December, January,uh, if they get into December
they're right on time.
So they'll be great for dads whoare last minute shoppers.
Um, but, um, from a mom who'slooking, if, if it's not in, in
the, the first, you know, coupleof weeks of November, I think
everyone gets their right afterkind of, we have remembrance day

(03:43):
here on November 11th, and theneverybody gets into Christmas.
But, uh, it's that kind ofNovember to December timeframe.
If, if people are, are notseeing the goods they want,
they're gonna be in trouble.
And, and I really think that'sgonna be a reality, that stuff
is coming.
It's gonna come in January.
So I think what you're to see,and no one's gonna call it out
to the customer and say, this iswhat's happening.

(04:03):
But I think what will happen isthere will be events that
retailers make up.
And what I mean by that isthey'll do a holiday promotion
in October or they'll, they'llnow all of a sudden miss
Christmas.
And then, you know, a think tankwill get together and they'll
launch a, a Christmas inJanuary.
Right.
Because they now have the good,so I think retailers are gonna

(04:25):
have to be creative.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
Nailed it.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
Nailed that one too.
Yeah.
Half

Speaker 2 (04:29):
Of it, half TV,

Speaker 1 (04:30):
Half of it.
No, that's true.
Uh, you know, when he wastalking about January, we're not
in January yet, so we'll seewhat happens, but in terms of,
you know, shortages of producton the shelves now, um, yeah,
he, he, he nailed

Speaker 2 (04:47):
It.
Well, you know, I hope maybeSanta could bridge the gap.

Speaker 1 (04:53):
That's true.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
Cause I don't know if his elves are reporting
inventory shortages or demand.
I mean, mm-hmm, whoknows if they're plugged into
that.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
I mean, I haven't read anything about predictions
in terms of, you know, whatSanta might be supplying here.
Uh, so hopefully he can fillthat gap.
Yeah.
And I, but we're gonna find out,we can ask I'm with this.
We we're gonna find out, we canask him.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
Will Christmas be ruined this year because of
supply chain shortage, right?
Or will he and his elves inreindeer save the day.
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
let's

Speaker 2 (05:34):
Find out, well, let's not wait another Merry moment.
and let's get into itwith the real Santa Claus.

Speaker 1 (05:43):
Yes.
Who goes the real Santa Claus,AKA Santa ed Taylor.
And he's our guest today on thisepisode.
And I am, I could not be moreexcited to, to talk with Santa.
I think this is gonna be so muchfun

Speaker 2 (05:59):
On episode nine of we're not blowing hot air, the
real Santa Claus who goes by edTaylor or Santa ed drops into
the studio from the north poleto spread his holiday cheer and
share the real deal about beingSanta Claus, a jolly guy with a
big heart for kids, all ages.
Santa ed has more than 1 billiontelevision and social media

(06:21):
views as Santa Claus seen onJimmy Kim alive and all the
holiday commercials where Santaactually looks like Santa he's
known as the greatest Santa inthe history of Santa's and has
me convinced he exists availablevirtually or in Santa ed is one
gift that should be oneverybody's Christmas wish list.

(06:41):
Spark up your holiday spiritwith songs and secret Santa
scoots about elves and more allon this special holiday episode
of we're not blowing hot air

Speaker 1 (06:53):
Santa ed.
Welcome to the podcast.
Oh,

Speaker 4 (06:57):
Oh, oh, Merry Christmas.
You guys Merry

Speaker 1 (07:01):
See you

Speaker 4 (07:02):
Santa

Speaker 1 (07:03):
Claus.
How fun.
So Santa ed, AKA ed Taylor,you're a real bearded Santa
Claus located in Hollywood,California, and also available
to everyone worldwide, viavirtual visits, the Santa Claus
portrayal artist.
You consider yourself an avatarof kindness and goodness

(07:24):
encouraging kids to keep theChristmas spirit all year long.
The Santa Claus of more than 17commercials, including Chrysler
Coles, ready, whip bandaid, andoverstock.com.
You've spread the Christmasspirit on several TV show,
including MTV's ridiculousness,Jimmy Kimmel live, the doctors

(07:44):
Nickelodeon and the today showarguably the most sought after
Santa of all time.
You also make the time to trainthousands of Santas to be just
like you through the worldwideSanta Claus network.
How incredible is that?

Speaker 4 (07:59):
Well, thank you.
I'm not sure if I'm the mostsought after anything or, or how
much I'm training people to bejust like me.
I'm training to be the best themthey can be.
I think, but I

Speaker 1 (08:09):
That's.
That's wonderful and, and veryhumble of you.
Well, let's, let's dive in andjust kind of find out how you
got your start portraying SantaClaus.
How did you get there?

Speaker 4 (08:22):
yeah, that, you know, it's an interesting
question because I, I certainlydid not start out to, to portray
Santa Claus at all.
What really happened was afriend of mine, um, who was an
active volunteer in ourcommunity of Ashland, Oregon
fellow by the name of Gordon.
Rhoda was my friend and we dideverything together.

(08:43):
Um, and, and, uh, anyway, hevolunteered himself to be Santa
at a local little fundraiser andhe came down sick and, and he
called me and said, Hey, can youfill in for me?
You know?
And it was more like, Hey, couldyou, you know, I could hardly
hear his voice.
He was, you know, and anyway, itwas like, oh, seriously, you
know, being Santa Claus thatthought had never, ever entered

(09:04):
my mind, but I ratherreluctantly agreed to, to step
in.
And,

Speaker 2 (09:10):
And, and, and did you have a beard at that time?

Speaker 4 (09:12):
I had a small beard, very trim.
Okay.
Um, and you know, they, they hadrented a, a suit and all that
sort of thing.
So I, I, I picked it up and, andthe next day put it on and, and
went into the, to the venue,which was a, uh, it was a hotel
lobby in, in Ashland, Oregon.
And there were all these peoplewaiting for Santa and instantly,

(09:33):
you know, the, the arms were goout, everybody's smiling and
wants to give Santa a hug.
And, and I had no idea what toexpect, but instantly I'm like,
you know, Hey, this is great.
I'm ho, ho ho in and givingeverybody hugs and, and just
loved it.
I mean, instantly just, justfell in love with this.
I thought this is the greatestthing ever.
And, uh, at the end of the, ofthe time him, I don't know, a

(09:56):
couple hours or whatever it was.
Uh, my wife had come to pick meup and I, I, I jumped in the car
and said, which happened to beby the way, a big red
expedition, just coincidentally.
But, uh, um, I, I, I told her, Isaid, I just love this.
I I'll, I'll volunteer to dothis everywhere.
That will have me.
So I spent the next seven yearsas a volunteer Santa all over

(10:17):
Southern Oregon and parades andfundraisers for the hospital.
And, uh, even a, a visit formake a wish foundation and, uh,
the homeless shelter and, andjust everybody that would have
Santa and again, and I just fellin love with it and continue to
be in love with it to this day.

Speaker 2 (10:35):
Did you have a profession at the time?

Speaker 4 (10:38):
Yeah, I did.
I, I I've been a, a smallbusiness owner, um, since all,
all my adult life really, um, Ihad a marketing agency and, and
little company called theinternet marketing group.
And we, uh, we, and I primarily,I was a professional speaker.
I went around the country,speaking on internet market, two
small business groups, uh, wellacross the us and Canada and,

(11:02):
and occasionally overseas.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
And you also have a hobby.
You had a, have a hobby, had ahobby.
Were you not a toy maker?

Speaker 4 (11:10):
that toy maker.
Yes, indeed.
That is, uh,

Speaker 2 (11:16):
I mean,

Speaker 4 (11:18):
Coincided.
That was the beginning.
That was that.
Then, then that has been apersistent element.
In fact,

Speaker 2 (11:25):
Let me, we have a, we listeners, we have a toy, it's a
wooden, it's a

Speaker 4 (11:31):
Planes, a wooden airplane prop, turn wheels turn.

Speaker 2 (11:36):
Yeah.
Wow.
Did you that Santa

Speaker 4 (11:39):
Claus?
I did.
I did.
Now today.
Of course, everything isshifted, right.
The whole workshop is much moreautomated and we even, you know,
I don't know if I should saythis, but we even do some deals
with some outside manufacturersthese days, some of the GIY
things okay.
That they recognize that maybethey saw in the store wanted,

(12:00):
did Santa make it just likethat?
Some of what we do, some of whatwe actually, what they call
outsourcing I do thedelivery.
Yeah.
Some of the others who do themaking

Speaker 2 (12:12):
And I'm sure you have some licensing deals and we

Speaker 4 (12:16):
Dos, you know, everything has changed so much
over the years, so yeah.
Yeah,

Speaker 1 (12:19):
Sure.
Everything evolves everythingand it has to right.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
Well, how great.
So you, you came from a, I mean,you were a natural, you could
say about being with otherpeople and making them smile
and, and happy, and you have a,a trade skill that seemed to fit
the role of, of playing Santanow, but let's go back even
further before that first timeyou went into the hotel and, and
had your first Santa experience,what was it like growing up for

(12:46):
you as a young boy?
What, and specifically, what wasChristmas like for you?

Speaker 4 (12:51):
You know, Christmas was all, always a ton of fun.
I, I remember, and I, I supposeit is for every child.
Right.
And, and hopefully all adults do, but I just remember in, in our
home, my mom was just meticulousin the early days with the, the,
the people might not evenremember this, but the Tensal
that you put on the trees thelittle, and at that time it was

(13:14):
like tin Tensal.
And, and they, it was, it wasjust beautiful.
She would, uh, the family wouldgo out and select the tree.
We'd bring it home.
And it was kind of just like themovies, you know, you'd tie'em
on the top of your car.
We'd nobody, we didn't have atruck or anything like that.
Um, we were I in SouthernCalifornia at the time.
And, um, so, so the whole magicaround the holidays.

(13:36):
And, and I remember to this day,seeing the, the, the bells and
the lights that would go up onall the street, uh, posts and
all, all the decorations thatwould go up as a community and
was just magical.
And, and, and then the, the, ofcourse, the gifts on Christmas
morning, we had a familycelebration on Christmas Eve,
we'd have grandma and grandpaand the uncles, you know, and

(13:59):
other people coming to, to thehouse.
And, um, and then we'd allexchange gifts amongst the
family.
And then Christmas morning we'dwake up and find the gifts, of
course, that Santa deliveredand, and just loved it.
Just, just, it was just, youknow, just like out of a TV
show, you?
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (14:16):
Magical.
Yeah.
Lauren, Lauren has told me that,you know, she, she enjoyed
having her Jewish godparents,you know, involved in Christmas
and, and yeah.
And, and because, you know, itwas, it was inclusive and they
brought a lot of presents.
Right.
So, oh yeah.
great.
And, you know, for me as a kid,I, for Christmas celebrations, I

(14:38):
loved being with like my mom'sside of our, you know, extended
family.
It was, there was just so manypeople, you know?
Yeah.
And it was just food and, youknow, it was, it was, everybody
came together and it was justloud and kids running around and
everything, and it just, it wasjust so happy.
Everybody was just happy andcelebrating, you know, what do
you most cherish aboutChristmases from the past?

Speaker 4 (15:01):
I, I, I think it's exactly what you just said.
It's, it's those memories of thefamily, you know, it, and yeah,
I can kind of remember some ofthe actual gifts that I
received.
I, I know I had a Pogo stick oneyear and, uh, and, and, and that
was fun.
And we had hula hoops, you know,that was fun.
Um, but, but it's, but what youreally think about, well, at

(15:22):
least what I really connect withat this point in life, looking
back, it, it was, it was thegathering, seeing the family
that you hadn't seen for a longtime.
The food of course was amazing.
I mean, that was always that bigpart.
I mean, it was things that wewould only have once a year
mm-hmm, it was justthat, those Christmas special
items.
And so, yeah, it, it really, itreally did impact.

(15:46):
And, and of course, you don'tknow it at the time.
Right.
At least I did.
And I, you know, just goingthrough life, Christmas fun, and
then it's a, on the next thing.
Right.
And as I got older, I, I grew upin Southern California.
I'd go surfing on, on Christmasmorning.
And that was, became a littletradition of mine just to go
down to the beach a little cold,but, uh, go out and catch a few
waves in the morning.

(16:06):
Um, Santa surfs,

Speaker 1 (16:08):
Santa.
I love it.

Speaker 4 (16:11):
But yeah, but, but it's at that family gathering, I
think that really is the mostmeaningful and, and the most
impactful over the course of alifetime.

Speaker 1 (16:19):
Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, I mean, you know, so, well, speaking of impact, I mean,
you're also making an impact,you know, as with what you do
day to day, and, and it soundslike you're, you're doing really
like what you're men it to do orsomething that's kind of a
calling for you.
And, and so you, you know, shareChristmas joy with, you know, at

(16:39):
special events with nonprofits,um, you do in person, uh, and
virtual visits.
Can you share a little bit aboutthat impact that you're able to
make via those, those D variousthings that you're doing?
Yeah, yeah.
You

Speaker 4 (16:53):
Know, well, thank you for that.
And, and that was one of thethings that was really
interesting for me when Itransitioned from this kind of
volunteer center, I, you know,just an active community
service.
And at some point I, I, I kindof crossed over to become a paid
center, still doing a lot ofvolunteer work, but, but I, I
sort at accepting payment forsome of my appearances, and it

(17:16):
wasn't about me being Santa.
It was about bringing thatChristmas spirit into people's
lives that, that, that smilethat people give you when they
look at you, you know, they,they just look and they smile
and, and you know, that it's,it's triggering them back to
these these day days of, ofgoodness and kindness and, and,

(17:37):
and thoughtfulness andgenerosity in their own lives.
And, and I love that.
And I love being that, thatperson, that people see, you
know, in, in a grocery store ordriving down the street and they
look over and they see me andthey, and they smile, you know,
and oftentimes I'll wave orsomething like that.
I take a picture and it, it justreally means a lot to me to

(17:58):
think that, okay, I know it's asmall thing, but it's something
it's something that I can do.
And, and kind of maybe bring alittle bit of light into some
people's lives.
So, yeah, my experience haschanged a little bit, uh, in
early, um, 2020, where it would,it was an every time occurrence,
if I would go to Costco or agrocery store or something where

(18:21):
people would come over and, andwanna give Santa a hug or, or
get a selfie together, or haveme make a video for somebody in
their family.
I'd, I mean, not occasionally,it happened every time.
I mean, every time I'd goanywhere, that was the
experience for me, which Iloved.
And, and that stopped, you know,in, in the spring of, of 2020.

(18:42):
And it was a, you know, it, it,it was missed, I guess, is the
best way for me to say it.
It was like, you know, peoplewould still smile and look, but
every was so guarded,

Speaker 2 (18:51):
Even with you as Santa huh.
Even with, even to you as Santa.

Speaker 4 (18:56):
Yeah.
You know, nobody would breakthat six foot barrier, you know,
and it was, it was weird.
And, and it was, uh, it was, itwas a little saddening, you know
, it caused me to be a wishfulof, of, of the old days, you
know, when, when that wasn't thecase.
And, and now to, to this, atthis point in time, it's more

(19:21):
people are a little more free,you know, they seem like
they're, they're talking moresmiley, more getting some
pictures with the kids, butstill very guarded and, and, and
probably rightfully so, I guess,but, uh, but yeah, it, it's
definitely a, a differentexperience being me than it was
in 2019 and before,

Speaker 2 (19:40):
Well, and perhaps with your marketing skills, it
seems that you've surely helped,um, bridge that gap between
offline and online.
You've had more than a billionin views between all the, the
videos and social media poststhat you've done to reach
people.
I, that that's gotta be amazing.
And do you wanna talk a littlebit more about how you, you

(20:02):
offer that to, to people kids?
Well,

Speaker 4 (20:05):
Yeah.
So what happened last year in2019 is our 2020 rather was
that, you know, I, I felt reallycompelled when I recognized in
the spring that things weregonna be different at Christmas
time that we weren't gonna bedoing what we had always done.
And as Santa and families,weren't gonna be able to visit
Santa at the mall and all theother places.

(20:26):
Um, so I kinda discovered, uh,uh, every way that I could to
extend my reach and, and notonly my reach personally as
Santa, but in our worldwideSanta Claus network, we have
over 4,000 members and I wantedto, to do everything I could to
teach them to use technology sothat we could still spread the

(20:47):
Christmas spirit and, and dothis thing that we love doing
pro portraying Santa Claus and,and keeping that Christmas
spirit alive.
Um, but, but to do it Vvirtually, you know, and so many
of us, uh, were able to use zoomand other platforms to have
incredibly fun experiences withfamilies and companies.

(21:09):
I, I did tree lighting, a treelighting ceremony for a
university and appearances for acouple of us, uh, embassies, uh,
around the world, um, allvirtually and I, I fell in love
even more in love with beingSanta, but being in SI with
being Santa ver virtually wasjust amazing.
I, and I received dozens anddozens of emails from, from

(21:33):
parents saying, this is our newtradition.
We love this.
This is so neat.
So, so yeah, I do feel like wewere able to, you know, me
personally, I was able toconnect with nearly 600
different people or families andorganization and, and groups and
so on.
And as a community of clausesworldwide, you know, we were
able to do tens of thousands ofvirtual visits, which was really

(21:57):
neat.

Speaker 1 (21:58):
So now that now you're a big time Santa Claus,
right?
You're on all these TV shows,commercials, you know, a famous
actor and a, and a symbol ofChristmas, right.
You've also trained more than4,000 Santas through the
worldwide Santa Claus network.
Tell us about the trainingprogram and also why you decided
to create competition foryourself.

(22:19):
yeah.

Speaker 4 (22:19):
Right.
That that's,, you know,my mission from day one, when I,
when I decided to become Santa,uh, in a more year round way and
actually being compensatedfinancially for it, and that
sort of thing, the first notethat I made to myself is how do
I maximize the impact of theChristmas spirit?

(22:41):
What can I do to maximize theimpact of the Christmas spirit
and, and all these thingsstarted popping off, you know,
and, and it's like, oh, I can, Ican try to be on, on television
shows and, and, and do that, doit that way.
Uh, and then I looked at thecommunity of Santas and I
thought, wow, you know, there'sso many ways that, that together

(23:03):
we could multiply our impact.
And, and so, um, and I'd been along time trainer and teacher
cater that sort of thing.
So it was just a natural stepfor me to, to reach out to
people in the Santa communityand say, Hey, Hey, you know, do
you wanna work on ways toincrease your impact is Santa.

(23:23):
And a, a lot of people put theirhands I've said, and there, and,
and so many of people in ourcommunity are just like me, it's
they a stumbled into portrayingSanta for the first time, you
know, roped into volunteeringfor a church function or some
other community event.
And they just discovered theyloved it.
And then after a while, it'slike, okay, how do I move, do
more of this?

(23:43):
You know?
And, and a lot often timespeople retire and they finally
have more time and they, youknow, so, so this, the, the
network training, I didn't everthink of it as training my
competition.
Although I do have to say thatone of our members on his very
first audition for a televisioncommercial, he and I both
auditioned and he booked it to,and he had never dreamed of

(24:08):
doing anything like that before.
And, and, you know, until hecame into the network.
So, but I don't begrudge any ofthat.
I, I welcome everybody to do allof this stuff and, and, you
know, there's plenty enough ofeverything to go around.
Um, and, and to me it's muchbigger mission than any one of
us.
It's like, let let's just go outand make people smile and, and,

(24:31):
and try to bring some positiveimpact to our communities.
And, and I think we're doingthat.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
That's amazing.
How do you teach Santas toperfect?
Their ho ho, ho

Speaker 4 (24:45):
You know, that, that, that's a great question,
actually, because when, when we,when people hire Santas, one of
the, the most common things thatthey ask for is someone who
portrays Santa authentically.
And the first example they useis I, I, I don't want somebody

(25:06):
that just says ho, ho, ho allthe time.
I, I want it to be more real,more authentic.
And, and so we do spend timeunderstanding that the, the ho
ho, ho, that is a laugh, right.
It's part of Santa being Joll.
Yeah.
And, and it's not a, you know,ACA ho, ho, ho, you know,

Speaker 2 (25:30):
That was wrong.
What you just did.
That was a bad Santa.
That was not a

Speaker 4 (25:34):
Good ho ho, ho, ho.

Speaker 2 (25:36):
.
So, okay.
So it's more flowy, like there'smore di formatic, uh, breathing.
Do you teach breathing when youdo the ho ho, ho

Speaker 4 (25:43):
You know?
Yeah.
It's just more natural, like,laugh.
I think it, you want to be, oh,is that good?
And you want it to be in theright place.
Right.
So often, you know, when we'recoming up to, into a room, we
might just walk in ho, ho, ho,like, oh, okay.
That's okay.
But if we, if we come at it andsay, I'm so glad to see you all,

(26:04):
you know, it's a, it's a morenatural roll flow, I think.

Speaker 2 (26:09):
Okay.
So much better.

Speaker 4 (26:12):
You guys were gonna put suits on you too.
Yeah.
, we're getting thetraining right now.

Speaker 2 (26:17):
This is exciting.
But like, when those, like, youknow, when a clown walks in and
they're all clowny yeah.
Or like straight away withoutlike, getting to know you, or
like letting them know they'renot gonna like murder you.
Right.
You it's the same thing.
You don't wanna stay in a ho, hohoing at you straight away.
like, come into the roomand then do the, the natural,
the natural ho ho, ho.
Right.
I

Speaker 4 (26:37):
Think that's the idea be that's be authentic with it.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (26:41):
What, what other important lessons

Speaker 1 (26:43):
Do you teach?
I mean, you teach the, theauthenticity, the placement of
the ho ho, ho what are, what arethe other important lessons?
Is it, is it, you know, do you,do you teach how to deal with
people who don't really know ifthey believe in Santa?
Is it kids?
Is it, what are some of theother things that you teach?

Speaker 4 (26:58):
You know, we have hundreds and hundreds and
hundreds of hours of, ofsessions, right.
Of on every topic under the Stusun storytelling, working with
families with special needs,working with adults and children
separately with, with specialneeds.
Um, the, the, there, the beardcare and maintenance is an
important, uh, topic that thereare so many of those things, but

(27:22):
the, the next, probably mostcommon thing that I hear from
people who are bringing Santasinto their organization, or even
into a home party or somethinglike that is the, the Santa
looking grumpy, I guess, is thebest way to say it.
And, and, and it's, and it'sfairly easy for somebody who is

(27:43):
real bearded and, uh, a littleolder and, and that sort of
thing for their mustache todroop a little and maybe be down
over their, their lip and their,and so they're when you just
look at'em, they might not seemjolly.
And so part of learning, I thinkto portray Santa in an
extraordinary way is toremember, to smile and to make

(28:07):
that smile big and visible.
And we groom our mustaches up alittle bit to have that, you
know, that Mar that happier kindof a look, so that it's just
understanding that Santa Clausis a jolly, happy, old soul.
Right.
And that's what we want toportray.
And that's what people want tosee in Santa most of the time.

(28:29):
And we have to remember that,and sometimes our default might
be something different.
And, uh, and, and I, I tellSantas all the time that the
best part of portraying Santa iswhat you become in the process.
It's, it's about you becomingmore Santa, like every day of
your life and, and everybodybenefits.

(28:50):
I mean, your family likes youmore strangers like you more, it
, the, you know, Santa is apretty good guy, right?

Speaker 1 (28:58):
yeah, yeah.
I've been told I have a restingmean face.
I would have a lot of work to doif I was gonna right,

Speaker 4 (29:05):
Right.
That we have to get thatdefault.
And once you do, once you resetsome of your defaults to a more
jolly demeanor, um, your worldchanges.
I mean, I mean, and I think youroutlook changes because people
view you differently.
It, it's hard to be grumpy ifeverywhere you go, people smile
at you.
Right.
Yeah.
So there is a bit of cell ofserving, um, aspect of this.

(29:29):
No doubt.

Speaker 1 (29:31):
Yeah.
For sure.

Speaker 2 (29:32):
Well, I think you are the real Santa, and I wanna know
about the north pole and what'sgoing on up there.
And I'm curious, I rememberwriting letters when I was a
kid, but is that what kids aredoing now?
Or are, are they texting you, dothey have an email address?
How do they, how do they getahold of you now?
You

Speaker 4 (29:52):
Know, it, it comes in all ways these days, you know,
we do, we still get a lot ofletters, lots and lots of
letters.
Um, more of them that are, thatare printed these days among
many of them that, that have, uh, uh, photos actually right on
the, on the document.
So I don't know if mom must behelping'em with some of that.
Um, and some are justhandwritten.
I mean, so we still get a fairnumber of those for sure.

(30:15):
But the, the wishes that come invia text message, we get
millions of those as well.
We're getting a lot of the, ofthe text messages.
And very often there'll be, uh,pictures, you know, Hey Santa,
how about, and you'll, you'llsee several, uh, little photos
that they send.
So, so yeah, the technology ischanging dramatically and, and,

(30:37):
and have to tell you that it's,uh, it's, it's made our lives
easier.
A lot of ways up here.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (30:44):
I bet.
I bet it, I bet it has.
Well, uh, if there's anythingthat maybe has made it a little
more difficult earlier, Laurenand I were talking about supply
chain issues, right.
I mean, are you experience any,any of that?
Like, how's the morale in theworkshop right now?

Speaker 4 (31:00):
You, yeah.
Well, morale is good.
It's a always good.
I mean, you can't the help.
Right?
Lot.
A lot of people know our, ourhelpers up here, the elves and,
and they are amazing, justabsolutely amazing.
So, so that part is good, butthat doesn't mean that we're
unaffected by some of the othersupply chain kinds of, of
issues.

(31:20):
So I, I think we're are good.
Um, but we always every year geta lot of last minute requests,
uh, hard to know exactly what'sgonna line up where, but I think
that we're covered, um, on, onall aspects of, of that.
Um, but, you know, get yourwishes in early that's, you
know, like everybody says, geteverything done early.

(31:41):
It's a good idea, you know,especially this year.

Speaker 2 (31:45):
So it sounds like the Alps have been starting early
and I'm curious, what is theirfavorite toy to make this year?
And what's your favorite toythat you're gonna give?
I know

Speaker 4 (31:56):
The making of like stuffed animals, the elves love
that.
I mean, you know, as, as it's,it's old fashioned, I know, and
it's, you know, like a lot ofthese people now they want tech
games and different things likethat, and those are very
popular.
And so are a lot of the, the,the dolls and the other plastic
kind of toys.
But the elves, I, I don't knowif you've ever stuffed like a

(32:17):
Teddy bear or seen how that'sdone, but, but that's a fun
process.
So, so that's probably the mostpopular thing to do.
Okay.
Up here, as far as working inthe workshop, as far as me, what
would I like for Christmas?
Is

Speaker 2 (32:28):
That what you, oh, no, no.
What would you like to give ofall the toys in the, in the
workshop?

Speaker 4 (32:34):
Well, it all depends on, on the age, I suppose, is to
what cause, because what, whatI'm doing is when I'm trying to
give gifts, I'm trying toanticipate, or, and oftentimes
let people, let me know what itis they want, I wanna put a
smile on their face.
I want'em to be happy.
So I don't know that I have afavorite thing to deliver as

(32:54):
long as it's something thatpeople like sometimes.
And in fact, very often I I'lldeliver a surprise, something
that wasn't on somebody's listand hope that, that, yeah.
Hoping that that surprises'emand that they enjoy that.
Um, okay.
Yeah.
A lot, lot of it is becomingtechnology these days.

Speaker 1 (33:12):
Very

Speaker 4 (33:12):
Cool.
Yeah.
A lot of people wanting, wantingdifferent games that they can
play on with, you know,different tablets and that sort
of, and some of those are veryeducational as well, so, uh,
yeah, so they they're yeah.

Speaker 1 (33:24):
Yeah.
They are.
No, that's, that's great.
Yeah.
Okay.
So, uh, so, so speaking and, andkids are, kids are great with
technology and, and they're alsovery, they're also very in tune
with like, you know, things thatare trends, big, big topics.
Some because it get, does gettalked about, and then, you
know, so like one of those isthe environment.

(33:45):
Yes.
One of those is, uh, you know,how can we, how can we help our
earth?
Right.
Right.
And schools are really, youknow, trying to make that a
message as well.
And which is great.
So what are your thoughts onglobal warming?
Are you seeing any effect X upin the north pole?
Are the reindeer seeing anyeffects?
Like what are you guys seeing upthere?
Yeah.
Well,

Speaker 4 (34:06):
So it, it's important to remember that where we are
one it's magical.
So we we're kind of protectedfrom, from some aspects of this,
but the, the ice sheets are, arethinning.
I mean, there, there's noquestion about that.
We are not directly impactedhere at the pool and, and at our
workshop and in our village.

(34:27):
Um, but, but, and, and, and soour reindeer, none of that,
nothing like that is affected.
Um, but at the same time, there,there is an awareness and a
greater sense that there is ashift in, in, uh, climate and
then things are warming, uh, alittle bit.
And that the melting is a littlegreater than it has been.

(34:48):
So we do wanna be conscientiousof, and be, uh, environmentally
conscious about everything thatwe do at every age.
And I definitely try toencourage both the children and
adults to be aware of that.

Speaker 2 (35:01):
Well, we, we love that at oxygen plus, uh, we're
very sustainable minded.
Our products are also a hundredpercent recyclable after use.
So I think that's something thatwe care about a lot at our
company.
We care about making this worldbetter than we have it.
And I am curious, given that, doyou think oxygen plus would make

(35:23):
an incredible stocking stuffer?

Speaker 4 (35:25):
You know, I'm thinking about that, that, yeah.
I'm thinking about that.
The, uh, the biggie bottle,right?
yeah.
The, oh, plus biggie.

Speaker 2 (35:33):
Yeah.
That would fill up a big stock.
And I have a seen stockingsgetting bigger lately.
It seems that they get largerand larger, which oh, yeah.
Seems a little greedy, but youknow, on our part, not yours on
our part.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:46):
There's almost just as much that goes into the
stockings now is

Speaker 2 (35:49):
Under the tree.
You have to buy like$10 presentsto fit in which the biggie is
just about that price point.
Um, right.
Well, that's awesome.
I thank you for endorsing it.
I,

Speaker 4 (36:00):
I love it.
No, I think it's a great idea.
And I love what you guys aredoing as a company.
And it's a, it's a great, youknow, it's a great thing,
oxygen, you know?
Right.
I mean, it's fairly important tous, right.

Speaker 2 (36:10):
, I'm sure you would probably need it when
you're going down the chimneywith all that suit.
You could, you know, have a fewpuffs and just help really help
you recover.
Right.

Speaker 1 (36:19):
Have you considered bringing some with you on
Christmas Eve?
You know, when you're out thereand trying to get that

Speaker 2 (36:25):
All done, maybe he's always done it.
I mean, we've been around sincemaybe that's true five.

Speaker 4 (36:31):
Yeah.
We, well, yes.
We, we actually need to probablylook at partnering up a little
bit more on, on some of thisstuff, but, uh, I do like it and
I, we have made deliveries andI, and I'm sure it'll probably
be, uh, more of them this year,you know, especially

Speaker 2 (36:46):
That's awesome music to my Merry ear.
Yeah, yeah.
Yes.

Speaker 4 (36:52):
Yes.
Well, thank you guys for doingwhat you do with it.

Speaker 2 (36:55):
It's helpful.
Yeah.
Thank, thank you.
Santa's thinking me.
I love it.
That's funny.
Well, um, Scott and I would liketo get in the nitty gritty of
being naughty and nice.
Yeah.
And we have some even moreburning Christmas questions that
we'd love to ask.

(37:16):
Ready.
Sure.
You're

Speaker 4 (37:17):
Ready.

Speaker 2 (37:19):
Have you ever, or have you ever really wanted to
put coal in somebody's stocking

Speaker 4 (37:25):
now I've never wanted to put coal in
anybody's stocking, you know, Imean, I had to a few times, or I
guess I didn't have to, but Ichose to, but, but I don't like
it.
I, I would much prefer notputting coal and, and anybody's
stalking.
Um, one, one of the things that,that people have lost sight of a
little bit is I think is, is whyI, I do leave coal.

(37:48):
I, I could leave nothing.
Right.
And I'll tell you it'd be awhole lot.
In fact, I, I have some coalright here, actually.
Oh, wow.

Speaker 2 (37:54):
Oh, okay.
Um, do you, do you use the coalin the fireplace?
Cuz some fireplaces aren'treally like anymore.
Right.

Speaker 4 (38:00):
And most aren't, that's what I say.
So here's, here's actually alittle piece of coal that, that
somebody's likely to get thisyear, but, but it's dirty.
I mean, you can see it's, it'sstill on my, my fingers every
time I touch it or so it's, it'smessy.
I prefer not to, to deliver it,but I do.
And I started delivering it ofcourse, as a, as a, a kind of a
metaphor reminder or forchildren to, to have a warm

(38:21):
heart.
Uh, you know, we used to usethat phrase a lot more, but, but
there were children who werekind of coldhearted they were
mean and uh, and they, theyweren't following directions.
And um, so I, I started givingthe call away in the very
beginning.
Of course I added a little notethat explained that I wanted
them to, to, to think abouthaving a warmer heart every time
they, they saw the colon and tokeep it somewhere where they did

(38:43):
see it all the time.
But today I think a lot ofpeople don't even know what coal
is.
Right, right.
But it, but it does, it, it, it,it, it, it always serves.
I, I hope for those of few kidsand the, a number of kids who
receive it are, is definitelydeclining and that's a good
thing.
Um, but it does.
And hopefully it will serve as areminder to be more warm
hearted.

(39:04):
I know people oftentimes thinkabout the naughty and nice list
or being good and bad, and it'sreally more about being warm,
hearted, being kind and considerit and thoughtful.
Oh,

Speaker 2 (39:13):
I can, I can do that.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (39:17):
Okay.
All right.
Okay.
So next question.
You're obviously very welltraveled.
You've seen the world, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I would imagine you like totake some vacation or some time
off after Christmas.
Yep.
Where are you and Mrs.
Claus thinking about flying nextand do you have to worry about
getting recognized when you gothere?
Oh, good

Speaker 4 (39:36):
Question.
You know, that, that is, that isan excellent question.
And, and very often peopleassume that we're gonna get out
of the north pole and we'regonna go to, you know, Hawaii or
The Bahamas or some tropicallocation somewhere.
And, and, and we've done that ofcourse.
But most often we don't.
Um, most often, especially thesedays, we we'll just pick a

(39:56):
little town anywhere, you know,we might wind up in, in San
Diego or it might be Medford,Oregon, you know, or, or, or
Jacksonville, Florida, or itmight be up near Boston.
We, we just, we will and, andother places around the world as
well.
And we just like to go in and,and spend some time getting to
know some locals and yes, we doget recognized, but the magic

(40:20):
happens because they, they neverknow is, is that the real Santa
, you know, get amystery, right?
There's a lot of people who looklike Santa floating around.
And the question always is, isthat the real Santa?
Well,

Speaker 2 (40:33):
Hopefully wherever you go, they don't hear this
podcast.
They're gonna know that we nowthey're gonna know the actual
real Santa and it is magical.
My, my next question is, and Ithink about this a lot.
Have you ever slid down achimney only to catch a parent
putting stuff in a stocking?

Speaker 4 (40:54):
, you know, I I've, I've, I've went down a lot
of chimneys over a lot of years,and I've got all kinds of weird
things going on all day.
Oh,

Speaker 2 (41:03):
No.
Like what, what's the, what'sthe NIUs

Speaker 4 (41:05):
well, the ones that are my favorite is, is
when somebody's still bakingcookies, you know, they're,
they're, they're baking themlate and, and all of a sudden
they're not expecting me and Ididn't check adequately and, and
I didn't know they were awakeand they're, but that they
usually turns out pretty good,because I'll sit around, visit a
little bit, have a little bit ofmilk cookies with them.
Wow.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
That's happened.

(41:26):
And, uh, I'm

Speaker 2 (41:26):
Like, my mom wasn't lying to me.

Speaker 4 (41:30):
OK.
Yeah.
And, uh, and then that's, it,sometimes I've even been caught
by, by families, you know, what,like even kids that were, uh,
but that happens very rarely,but, but I have occasionally
been caught by, uh, a childwho's actually spotted me.
Um, and very often what happensin that case is they will go
back to, we have a little bit ofSanta magic happening,

(41:52):
especially on Christmas Eve.
And so they usually go back tosleep and don't either they
don't remember, or they don'tknow if it was a dream or if it
was real life and, and, youknow, so, uh, so that, that,
that magic kind of helps there.
But, uh, but as far as otherpeople stuffing stockings and
things like that, occasionally,you know, I'm pretty good at, at
timing at wherever buddiesasleep when we make our

(42:14):
deliveries.

Speaker 1 (42:16):
Wow.
That's good.
That's, that's, uh, that's realskill there.
That, that really is okay.
One more quick,

Speaker 4 (42:21):
You know, we have a lot of homes to deliver to, so
we're, we've gotta get in andoutta there pretty quick.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (42:25):
Right, right.
Understand.
So you mentioned the kids, I'm adad.
So I like to ask parentquestions.
I think it happens on everypodcast, but yes.
Uh, what is the most challengingexperience that you've had with
a kid?

Speaker 4 (42:40):
Oh, the most challenging experience I've had
with a, a kid?
Uh, well, I'll tell you one thatjust pops to mind was last year,
I was gonna have a, a virtualvisit, a, a zoom call with a, uh
, a mom, dad, and a, and a youngchild.
They were, it was their firstbaby.
And, and the, the baby was, I, Ithink, 14, 15 months old,

(43:00):
something like that.
And, and hadn't had a nap andjust would not, didn't want
anything to do with Santa andjust was, uh, ready for a nap
and not ready to, to video chatwith Santa Claus, but we
rescheduled and, and were ableto talk to'em at a later time,
loved it and had some, somefirst words and, and that sort

(43:22):
of thing.
Um, so we, we just had a, agreat time.
Um, and, and, you know, the, theyoung ones that's, they call me,
you know, Santa Claus, maybe,but ho ho for sure.
Yeah.
So, so, um, yeah, you know,there, there's a lot of things,
um, you know, every once in awhile you get the, the children

(43:42):
who are a little bitapprehensive, not so much on the
video calls, but in, in, inperson where they're, they're
like, oh, I don't know.
Should I, you know, I'm little,little, little, little
frightened, a little tentativeof going over you and, uh,
telling him what I want forChristmas or sitting on my knee
or something like that.
Um, yeah.
But, but that, you know, it,it's, it's few and far between,

(44:04):
and if everybody will just giveit a minute and let, you know,
let the, the child, and I talkfor it, almost always, they come
around and, and we'll visit and,and tell me what they want or
Christmas.
And we usually tell'em a couplelittle stories about the, the
north pole, or maybe sing aChristmas song or two.
Um, but they they'll, they'llwarm up after they give'em a

(44:25):
little minute.
Okay.
Well, I've had to

Speaker 2 (44:28):
Do that with some work calls myself, just
reschedule a cranky cry personon the other end, or it could
have been me.
So, but I wanna ask more aboutthe wor you, so you've trained a
lot of Santas through theworldwide Santa Claus network.
Yes.
And I also know about mallSantas, probably some of them do
that as well, correct?

(44:48):
Oh, yeah.
Sure.
Okay.
So, and they, he can make, Imean, five digit income in, in
like matter of weeks, which ispretty phenomenal.
So my question is more aboutmall Santas.
How do you train to handle ananxious parent who wants that
perfect Christmas photo?

Speaker 4 (45:06):
Oh, great question.
Yeah.
As far as the, the income, youknow, I know a lot of, to the, I
, I know hundreds and hundredsand hundreds of Santas who work
in malls and retail locationsand, uh, the vast majority of'em
don't make anywhere near thatamount of money.
But I do know that some of the,the malls and so forth do place

(45:26):
a high value on an, anextraordinary Santa.
Okay.
And they do pay well.
Um, but as far is handling the,uh, the, the parents who want
just the right photo or, or thatsort of thing, it's, it's really
a matter of Santa being reallyaware of the camera and, and,

(45:49):
and having a great photographerthere.
But, but given the camera, theattention, knowing that, that
when the, the child say, uh, ormaybe the children together,
when they both have the rightlook at the same time, the
cameraman will do their job orthe camera person do their job
in snapping that photo.
But you don't want Santa to belooking away or trying to get

(46:10):
the child's attention.
Um, because then as soon as they, the kids are both looking in
the right direction in the righttime with the right look,
Santa's looking away.
So, um, there are some, I, Iguess, tricks or things that
we've learned after doing manyhundreds of thousands of photos
that, that can help make thingseasier for everyone.

(46:30):
Uh, and you know, sometimes it'sgood for parents to, uh, to
relax a little bit, you know,it'll all work out good.
yeah,

Speaker 1 (46:39):
Yeah, yeah.
all right.
My next question.
So you're a giver you're alwaysin demand and me hit up for
presents, you know, for, forother people.
But so a couple questions.
What would you like forChristmas this year?
And what's the greatestChristmas gift you've ever
received?

Speaker 4 (46:58):
You know, well, let me start with that one.
It's probably a little easierthe, uh, the, the greatest
Christmas gift that I've everreceived, and I'll tell you, it
wasn't designed to be a gift,but it was the first year that I
was paid to portray Santa.
And I was at a mall actuallyworking for Microsoft.
We were giving free pictureswith Santa courtesy of Microsoft

(47:19):
in a mall in Los Angeles.
And, um, and I was coming out ofa break and a woman probably in
her late twenties or earlythirties stopped me seeing me
walking back towards my set.
And she said, can I talk to youfor a minute?
And I, you know, sure.
So we, we stepped aside of thewalkway for a second and she
said, can, can I ask you what Ishould do?

(47:41):
And, you know, and I'm thinking,well, this is interesting, you
know, and, and she didn't, youknow, I mean, she knew me from
her childhood and been SantaClaus, but anyway, we had this
really meaningful conversationabout her life choices and her
career choices and that sort ofthing for a few minutes.
And, and this, what should I do?
Question that, that she asked methat that year caused me to give

(48:06):
a whole lot of thought to whatshould I do?
What should I do at this pointin my life and where I am, and
in all aspects of my life.
And it's really what, whatcaused me to move forward,
portraying Santa full-time yearround, and pursuing all the
different things that I have.
And it was all because of thatwoman who, who, you know, took

(48:26):
me aside and just asked me whatshe should do.
So I thought that would, youknow, the greatest gift gift
I've ever received as Santa, asa, um, you know, for, for
Christmas, for that matter.
Um, cuz it's really had awonderful, wonderful impact on
my life.
And your other question was whatwould I like for, for Christmas?
You know?
Yeah.

(48:47):
What you know, and I, I, I guessI get a little Phil
philosophical on some of thisstuff, but what what's missing,
I think what we really need is,is just a greater understanding
of each other, greateracceptance, just, you know, we,
I just, you know, peace and loveand all those things are great,
but you know, I, I just think weneed to individually say it's

(49:11):
for us to be different and, andstill love each other anyway,
still be kind and considerateand thoughtful to one another.
It's a, you know, I, I call theChristmas spirit love expressed,
right?
It's the action of loving.
And, um, and that's what I thinkis, is more in need now than
ever is, is simply that.
So I would just love to see moreand more people move in that

(49:33):
direction of being moreaccepting of others and more
understanding of others

Speaker 2 (49:38):
Very well said very well said.
I was gonna ask you because thisis really a time of reflection
that we're in Christmas, theholidays, and then new year's.
I was gonna ask you, what isyour hope for our world this
holiday season, but you answeredit that,

Speaker 4 (49:55):
Yeah, no, that really is it.
That's awesome.
You know, I tell people, youknow, to, to me, and, and I
heard this from a, from a, afairly sharp guy.
I, I thought he was smartanyway, but he said, love is a
verb, right?
In, in order for love to haveany meaning, there has to be
action Associa with it.
It has to, you have to dosomething right.

(50:15):
And, and, and that's my view ofthe Christmas spirit.
You know, that what theChristmas spirit is a wonderful
thing.
When you do something, you know,charitable giving is, is at an
all time high during the holidayseason.
And there, I think a reason forthat and multiple reasons, no
doubt, but there's, it's thistime of the year when darkness

(50:38):
in the world, especially here inthe Northern hemisphere kind of
prevails, right?
The days are shorter.
The, the there's more cold, moredarkness and, and the Christmas
spirit brings that light andhope to, uh, to us all.
And I think that, that's what I,you know, hope, hope is a, is a,
is an important word andChristmas helps bring that into
people's lives.
I think.

(50:58):
Yeah.
Yay.

Speaker 2 (51:00):
Well, I love that.
Love it.
Scott is one more question.
That's great.
And then we have a surprise foryou.

Speaker 1 (51:05):
Yeah.
Last question is, what is yourfavorite Christmas Carol,

Speaker 4 (51:12):
Ah, favorite Christmas, Carol.
And then you asked me earlierabout growing up and we as a
family, whenever we would take a, a driving vacation, which is
the only kind of vacation weever took.
But if we were going anywhere,we, that was a long drive.
We would sing in the car.
My parents were, none of us weregreat singers, but we liked to
sing in the car to pass the timeand the most popular song, I

(51:33):
think in my little family, mybrothers, sister, and I and
parents, it was we three Kings,right?
We three Kings.

Speaker 2 (51:40):
Yeah.
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (51:40):
Three Kings.

Speaker 2 (51:43):
Okay.
Yep.
Mm-hmm I don't know that

Speaker 4 (51:44):
One.
That, that one was good, butthen there's all the other, you
know, the more traditional songs, the Rudolph jingle bells,

Speaker 2 (51:52):
Jingle bells.
Well guess what?

Speaker 4 (51:55):
Yeah.
Famous, famous, fun.
And yeah,

Speaker 2 (51:58):
You may see little faces popping up around us.
J visitors here.
So we are going to give ourheadsets over to these four
adorable children who are justdying to meet the real Santa.
So here you go.
We gotta put headsets on you soyou can hear him, right?

Speaker 4 (52:20):
Oh my goodness.
Look at you all.
Oh, I'm so happy to see you.
Oh, I love this

Speaker 2 (52:28):
Go.
All right.
So I'm gonna introduce you.
Okay.
This is Hailey and Emma andPreston and Paisley

Speaker 4 (52:39):
Paisley.
Oh, I love that.
Well, I'm so happy to see youall now.
Do you guys know any Christmassongs?

Speaker 2 (52:47):
Oh yeah.
Should we, should we sing jinglebells?
We sink

Speaker 4 (52:51):
Jingle.
I look, you ready?

Speaker 2 (52:55):
Jingle bows.
Jingle

Speaker 5 (52:57):
Balls jingle all the way.
Oh, what horse?
Jingle bows.
Jingle Jing.
The

Speaker 4 (53:14):
Yay.
Yay.

Speaker 2 (53:18):
I see that.
Have oxygen plus

Speaker 4 (53:20):
Bottles.
You recognize that.
Do you?
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (53:23):
that's the only

Speaker 6 (53:25):
Thing I saw.

Speaker 4 (53:27):
Yep.
Well, I tell you, I am so happyto see you guys.
Yep.
This, this is really, reallyfun.
I'm so happy that we're all heretogether.

Speaker 6 (53:37):
And you guys have a question you want to ask Santa?
Um, Hmm.
Do you work with the LS whenthey make toys for you?

Speaker 4 (53:49):
Well, I, I don't spend as much time in the
workshop as I used to.
I, you know, they, they'repretty busy down there and
nowadays I have just a lot ofother stuff to do.
We have to practice with the,the sleigh, make sure
everything's working on that.
It's more kind of business stuffreally, but they, but we, we
fortunately we have good helpersdown in the, in the workshop.
Hey, you know, I wanted to askyou guys a question.

(54:12):
Um, do you, do you know whatkind of animals we have up here?

Speaker 6 (54:16):
Um, reindeers.
Reindeer.

Speaker 4 (54:18):
Yeah,

Speaker 6 (54:20):
We have, do you have penguins?

Speaker 4 (54:22):
We have penguins are mostly, we have some, but
they're pet penguins, but mostactually live at the south pole.
Okay.
Yep.
Um, but we do have a kind ofbird.
Do you know what kind of bird dowe have up

Speaker 6 (54:34):
Here?
The snowbird

Speaker 4 (54:37):
Kind of, yeah.
Let me give you a clue a littlebit.
It says this.

Speaker 6 (54:40):
Ooh.
Oh

Speaker 4 (54:43):
Yeah.
Right.
You guys are.

Speaker 6 (54:46):
I like her.
I think she has a question.
She has a question.
Oh, good.
Yes.
You seem, I can't remember.
I'll tell her.
I can't remember it.
I'll tell it for her.
Okay.
And it's, um, she asked, whenyou go into your sleigh, do you
need a blanket or not?

Speaker 4 (55:02):
Well, um, you know, the clothes are pretty, he, oh,
you know what, in fact, I havemy head out right here.
Like when I'm on the sleigh, youknow, I put the head on and, and
then of course I have my coatand everything on.
And uh, so it keeps me prettywarm.
The, so I don't usually, I don'tusually wear, I, I have a
blanket in the sleigh, but Idon't use it most of the time.

Speaker 2 (55:24):
I'm just wondering Santa, is that a cashmere lines
top?
The fur of the hat is thatcashmere or wool?
Like, oh, what kind

Speaker 4 (55:31):
Of woo.
This is wool.
Yes.

Speaker 6 (55:34):
Not

Speaker 2 (55:35):
KRE.

Speaker 4 (55:36):
Not CA not, not

Speaker 2 (55:38):
Does Mrs.
Claus wear wear cashmere?

Speaker 4 (55:40):
She does actually.
I think we have a cashmere hatover here too.
Woo.
Down when an oxygen plus,that's why we have two.
You always have a backup plan.
Um, yes, yes, yes.
But so we have a lot of stuff tokeep it warm, you know?
Well, you know, when you live incold air, you have stuff to keep
you warm.
Of course.
That's

Speaker 6 (56:00):
What we do in Minnesota.

Speaker 4 (56:02):
Yep.
Exactly.

Speaker 6 (56:03):
When you sleep, do you need a hundred blankets on
cuz it's very cold at night.

Speaker 4 (56:07):
I'm sorry.
Didn't hear you.
Good.

Speaker 6 (56:10):
Um, when you sleep, do you need a hundred blankets
on

Speaker 4 (56:16):
no, we, we could taste pretty morbid in
our, in our, in our home and inthe workshops and everywhere.
Cuz we have a lot of heat uphere too.
Um, we, you know, we'd like youguys, we have heaters.
Um, so we could, we could keeppretty toasty, but we do have
nice blankets too.
I sometimes I just like to havenice blankets on and like if we
go outside, I don't know if youknow this or not, but up here we

(56:38):
have what they call the Aurorabore Ellis or, or the Northern
lights I've heard and up in oursky and they're green and
different colors that they'resometimes they're red and we
like to go out and watch thoseand just watch'em in the sky.
And, and then we'll take out a,be bundled up and take out a
blanket and Mrs.
Claus, you know Mrs.
Claus, right?
My wife mm-hmmyeah, we go out there and we

(56:58):
watch the lights and, and visitfor a little bit and talk about,
you know, talk about, well, welike to talk about the children
like you guys and how, how goodyou're doing, how proud we are
to see you guys doing so good,being so kind and thoughtful.
And so many of you like you guysyou're, you're like Santa's
helpers, you know, like whenyou, when you have old toys that

(57:18):
you kind of are, they're notworn out.
They're not like broken or bad,but you just don't you just out
grow'em what do you do with them?
You donate'em right.
Mm-hmm mm-hmm yeah.
See you're sad.
Helpers.
Just write that they're you're agiver.
See, and I love that.
That's why we're so proud of youcuz, cuz you're doing that, you
know?
So they'll keep up the goodwork.

(57:39):
Okay.
A question.
Okay.

Speaker 6 (57:43):
I, I have a question.
How do you get, um, in, in thehouse without letting the alarm
get on?
Yeah,

Speaker 4 (57:51):
right.
You know, that's a little bit ofthe Santa magic, you know?
And in fact I have a, our magickey right back here.
Um, and I know this doesn't looklike your house key, but this is
the magic kind of key that I canuse to, to get in a, all the
doors and turns off all thealarms.
So, you know, I don't know whatwe would do if it weren't for
the magic.
Right.
We, uh, and it's, it just reallyhelps us do a lot of things.

(58:14):
It would otherwise beimpossible, even like delivering
all those presents in one night,you know, I tell people all the
time, they ask me to say, well,what is it like to deliver all
those presents in one night?
You and I tell'em for me, it'salmost like a dream.
You know, I like on the, onChristmas morning after I did my
deliveries and I, I take a napwhen I get home.
And then when I wake up it'slike, did I really do that?

(58:37):
You know, it seems like, like itwas just like a dream or
something, but I don't evenremember like every detail of
it, but I just know all thepresents are there and I'm back
home.
So I can tell you,

Speaker 6 (58:48):
I can do magic as I'm , uh, imagine something too
magic.
Huh?
Somehow.

Speaker 2 (58:56):
Well, we might have future Santas in

Speaker 4 (58:59):
Our midst.
I like that idea.
That's good.
Yeah.
A little bit of magic ishelpful.
All

Speaker 2 (59:05):
Right.
Every wish Santa MerryChristmas, Merry Christmas,
Merry, Merry

Speaker 6 (59:09):
Christmas.

Speaker 4 (59:11):
Merry Christmas.
thanks.
You guys.

Speaker 2 (59:16):
Santa Claus.
Can you tell people where theycan find you not the real you in
the north pole?
We have to keep that secret, butjust where they can find Santa
ed or at that Santa guy.

Speaker 4 (59:27):
Well, Santa ed.com will work that Santa guy.com
will work.
They'll both take you there.
Zoom santa.com will work.
You know, I, I it's kind likeSanta be, you have to be a
little ubiquitous, right?
All over the place at the sametime.
Multi-location so yeah.
Yeah.
Santa ed.com or zoom santa.comor, or uh, that Santa guy.com

(59:51):
yeah.
Check.
Yeah, come visit.
And uh, yeah.
Hope I hope we can visit withsome of your listeners.

Speaker 2 (59:58):
We would love that.
Yeah, we would love that.
Great.
Awesome.
Well, I hope our listeners shareor our viewers go look and see
and, and sign up and find youand share this with their
family.
Like we had with some of ourfamily today.
Yeah.
And Santa Merry Christmas to youand to all anybody a good night.

(01:00:19):
A good night.
Goodnight.
Hi, Go right and review.
We're an app.
Hot air.
So more people are aware ofwellness and business stuff that
deserves more oxygen andsubscribe to our podcast.
So you never miss an excitingepisode.

Speaker 1 (01:00:36):
Thanks for listening.
But before we go check out thisepisode's featured artist,
singer song writer, Stacey blue,with her song, Christmas star.

Speaker 7 (01:00:50):
If you can see it's the wedding you love cause of
you glow.
And I love when you foundsomeone you want and noise

(01:01:28):
better hearts.
Now the winters on its way, beyou.

(01:01:49):
Now, here you my C I love it.
My heart, no matter what you, myC I'm hanging this.
I, this miss my heart is beinglouder than a drum.

(01:02:12):
When I see we'll get some normalweight and playing, and I'm
saying you are wrapped up andyou love, and I love Christmas.
When you found someone you wantthe, the season and noise that a

(01:02:41):
hearts make now thes on its way.
You now here, youre.

(01:03:04):
My C I love you.
You my heart, no matter what you, you, I, no.

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EP. 9: The Real Santa Claus, a.k.a. ‘Santa’ Ed Taylor, Wishes All A Magnanimous, Merry Christmas!

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