Santa Gigs.

My first and oddest Santa gig this year was as a Kris Kringle for a Disney-themed WEDDING! (My guess is that Mickey was overbooked.) It took place almost a month before Christmas and the couple insisted on a Santa at the reception party to dole out goodies to the lucky winners at a bingo! One gal got a 3-foot tall Mickey Mouse and was ecstatic at the gift. I Ho-ho-hoed all night and gave out some little soaps to all the guests. I managed to scam one for myself.

My next gig took place at the Tohoku Electric Friends of Canada party, a fun night though last year I was feeling under the weather so didn't don the gay red apparel. Alex was Black Santa (who removes presents from naughty adults) and there was also a very tall guy from Saskatoon who did magic tricks.

(Aside: I asked him if he'd ever heard of Humphrey and the Dumptrucks, a band I recall from the mid 70s who hail from Saskatoon. He claims to vaguely recollect them.)

There was some Quebecois dude who is the new Canuck ambassador to Japan and he gave a good speech and turned to be a nice guy, (for a Habs fan.)

As always, the food and drink was great but, also as always, we were too busy to enjoy the meal (It didn't help that Alex's son decided to projectile vomit his meal all over his mom. Not very appetizing.)

And of course Black and Red Santa doled out some goodies to the crowd.

I got to take some pics with some of my fellow Canajuns and I scammed a pair of antlers doled out by the Stilt-man.

I wore the antlers before and after I got on the bus, much to the amusement of passersby. This is my favourite shot of the night.

My next two gigs were with Carl school, handing out treats to a couple hundred kiddies. I didn't get any photographs but I was rather busy at the time.

(Aside: Speaking of Carl's, we held a Sayonara Party for long-time employee, Yvonne and that was also the night of the Sendai's first blizzard.)

A surprise last-minute gig allowed me to haunt my old stomping grounds, Tokiwagi High School. Alex asked me to dole out Häagen-Dazs Ice Cream to all his girls because they did such a good job at their Singing/Dancing/Volleyball competitions. It was a blast and we warbled a duet of Santa Claus is coming to town. My clinic is nearby and I needed to refill some meds, so I drove there in full Santa regale and surprised all the old ladies in the waiting room.

My final gig of the year was from Dec. 21-23 at the Izumi Royal Park Hotel and I gave out little snowmen and had my picture taken with over 1000 kids!! (And I even got paid to do so.)
Day 1.

Day 2 was much better because we solved the falling hat and loose beard problems. Thus I was a much happier and less itchy Kris.

 I even got a thank you note from one of the gang.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, on his way home, Santa made an appearance at Suu's bar and gave some treats to his patrons.

He then popped over to Ernie's Bar to meet his doppelganger and some lasses.

That is the true meaning of Christmas. Hugs from babes.

Day 3: Santa has two parties and makes some home deliveries with his reindeer companion.

As you can see, I was SO BUSY this year, that I had to be cloned!!