A PERSONAL STORY OF MINE

Lately Dana and I have been on a tough stretch that I know the Lord will pull me through on when he is ready. I have had the pleasure of being able to be Santa year round I was at a Christmas theme park in New York last summer. The summer before that I was Santa at Santa's Candy Castle in Santa Claus Indiana. Well I was supposed to go back to New York again this summer but they had to cut some things back and one of those things was being open only 5 days a week. Since I was the Alternate Santa they did not feel they would need me this year. They told me when we left last year that they wanted me back again this year. However they did not inform me of their change of plans until mid May. So I have had the pleasure of being Santa year round or close to it and life had been pretty good.

I was sharing with someone else not in the Santa World about the tough stretch we are presently going through. They had suggested that maybe I should give up on this Santa thing and go out and get a regular job.

Now I am going to share some personal information here but why not I am amongst friends. I have been actively battling with what the Doctors say is severe depression, for the last nineteen years. When I looked back on it all I have probably been dealing inactively with it since I was a teen. The first time I was forced to do Santa because of a commitment I was not happy, first of all because I never card for Christmas, and secondly the cheap suit and beard were very uncomfortable.

Then I walked into that VFW hall and a little girl named Kendra looked up at me and all the years of hard core Ice Cold Heart about Christmas and my depression were gone. I was asked before I left to appear at several other locations that year in that cheap old Wal-Mart suit, each time I showed up I felt better. After the first year I grew my own beard and started doing some research on this guy called Santa and for the next five years I went where ever I was asked in our little community and those around us and never charged a dime to anyone I refused offers of money many times. A couple times I was handed a gift card or gift certificate for a local establishment and felt I should take them. Of course they were neatly put into a Christmas Card.

The key for me here is I have not been able to find any kind of pill or other therapy that works better for me than watching children of all ages get excited because Santa was around no matter what time of the year.

So now that is the background and here is the story I really wanted to share with all of you.
We had left Joe and Mary's and were on our way to North Pole New York, when we had stopped to eat at a Cracker Barrel Staunton VA. When we walked in I was recognized by several of the children as Santa. After I had visited with several children in the restaurant. I never go up to these children without a nod or invite Dana and I had noticed a blind child about 8 years old. So I had Dana go up and ask mom if she minded if Santa came up to visit her son. Now she did ask so the young man could not hear her in case there would be an objection. I stooped down next to there table and started talking to him we had a wonderful visit I made sure that he got to feel my beard and hair a well as how fat my tummy was. I had on my newsboy hat with the white fur ball on top so he got to check that out as well. I thought the young man had a great time so then I returned to our table to finish eating.

The way it usually works out I either tell Dana what I want to eat or she just figures it out because come of the children in a place like this are so excited they just can hardly wait to see if Santa will visit them. So I generally end up eating cold food, which does not bother me. As I have had the opportunity to put so many smiles on children’s faces.

This message was printed on the back of a receipt that was given to me a little bit later in the restaurant.
Santa-
No man stands so tall, as he who helps a child so small. God Bless
John and Christine

Now I had no interaction with these people other than just to say hello or nod. They had just watched what I had been doing, along with several other people in the restaurant. The note just about had me in tears, and gave me a wonderful feeling inside.

I thought that the man had wrapped it around his business card. So after I read the note I unfolded it to see what type of work this man did. It was not his business card instead it was a $25.00 gift card at the Cracker Barrel. I immediately went out to give the card back to these fine folks. I told them I do not do what I do as Santa in these situations to get paid for me it is about watching the children young and old just light up. His comment was that he can’t do that type of thing but they enjoyed watching what I done so much that they thought it would be nice for them to bring some joy to someone and purchased the gift card for us. It was too late to return it because it had already been purchased.

This has happened to Dana and myself on many occasions well not getting to visit with a blind child but just talking to children in a restaurant like that and then the waitress will come up and say those folks over there purchased your meal, this has always been done by someone who had nothing to do with the visit.

I have had to learn how to be a good receiver in those situations. I have been told that it insults people when you try to deny their kindness. So anymore I say Thank You and tell the people that I do not do this type of thing for that reason. They just say we know but we enjoyed watching what you had done for other people and it brought us joy as well.

Dana and I go out to eat any more it is a treat for us to do so right now. But it has never ever been with the thinking that someone else will purchase our meal.
Now this is one of the many personal stories I have about being Santa. This with the others are going to go into a book that I am working on. In fact I started working on it a little harder this last couple months. I sent that story to the person who said I should consider doing something else, I have not heard back from them as of yet but it might be interesting when I do.
This has been one of my personal stories submitted by myself, Santa Mack and is copyrighted.

Oh I had another reason for telling this story here on the Celebrate Santa Blog. I would like for all of my Santa family and friends to come to Celebrate Santa 2010 with a story that they picked up on there trip to visit with the rest of the family. If you do not get one on your way here maybe you will pick one up on your way home.

Part in fact a big part of Celebrate Santa is being able to share our stories with each other as well as the different techniques that we use to handle different situations. Yes the workshops are still very important in that they give us the variety of educational information we will need to improve our portrayal of the Jolly Old Elf. If you have a thought or an idea for a workshop please get in touch with Santa Carlucci or Santa Tom Pellitieri they would love to get your input.
A lot of us like to share our stories with each other in person in order to get a better feel for what goes on.

So get your registration in to make sure you are a part of Celebrate Santa 2010 What a Wonderful World. The early bird registration is already over. Whatever you do do not wait so long to register that you fall into the late registration category.

A always we enjoy reading your comments on our blog. We are looking forward to seeing ya'll here with us next March.

YOUR IDEAS FOR WORKSHOPS BEING REQUESTED

Our workshop co-chairs Tom Pelitieri and Carlucci. They have been given full charge of the workshops for Celebrate Santa 2010. o if you have any thoughts about what types of workshops you would like for us to have then contact these fine gentlemen. If you feel like you would like to present a workshop these are the gentlemen that you will need to contact so they ca send you the requirements of what you will need to submit to get into the decision process. They are now prepared to take care of your questions and would like to hear from you. Their e-mail addresses can be found on the Celebrate Santa Website.

Also if you have a story from something that has happened to you in regard to Celebrate Santa 2010 just submit it to Santa Mack we would like fr you to share it with everyone here on the blog.

Lets not forget Santa Bob "rocket baloon" Elkin, if you are considering being a vendor in Santa's showcase you will need to contact him to get your space reserved.

This is the place to get the updates on the big announcements forhttp://celebratesanta.com/index.html

"What Price Freedom"?

July 4, Independence Day is upon us and I've had some deep thoughts this past week on the Price of Freedom. A time, if you will, to reflect on the supreme sacrifices so many of our forefathers made in order that we have the many, many freedoms we enjoy today and everyday all across America. Yes, they indeed did sacrifice much for us, but that sacrifice didn't come without a price. A price that many seem to have forgotten; for you see, even today, Freedom is not really 'free' at all. We all have accountability and Responsibility for our words and our actions. In the Santa World as it is called, there are many players that share and spread the Joy and Magic of each Christmas Season to as many as we possibly can and in the best fashion we can. It is a special 'gift' that God has chosen to bestow upon each and every one of us in whatever way he chose to bestow it. It is a gift that should be cherished, revered and protected, even when one of our own might stray into compromising situations that crop up from time to time. We police our own Industry and hold each other accountable for their actions. Sadly, there are some that think they are above accountability and it only applies to others, but it has clearly been demonstrated time and time again that is not the case. In each instance there are 'sides' drawn and words are bandied about on each side, both of which believe theirs is the right one and the only one. Many times, tempers flare and words are spoken in harshness and through it all the message gets lost and what should have been an easily resolved matter flares into a Major issue.I cannot begin to count the numerous times I have heard and seen written in various discussion forums all across the Internet, "It's About The Children", yet through these skirmishes, battles and even what has been deemed "Santa War" the last thing being considered is The Children. The very people that have screamed for all to hear, taught in schools, hosted seminars, etc have let their own ego's take front and center stage and the last consideration, it seems, is 'the children'.On this Independence Day all of us that are fortunate enough to work in this Industry ARE accountable. We are accountable to The Children for every word we utter, the places we are seen and every photo we allow to be taken. This is especially true for those that portray Santa all year long. The rest of us have the luxury of disguise in the off season. Real Bearded Santas do not have that luxury. I implore all out there, no matter what 'side' you are on or what skirmishes, battles, etc. you may be involved in or even just a spectator, to stop and think. Put everything else on hold for just a few minutes and think about the Children. Whatever the case is about that is causing such controversy, ask yourself this one question and it should decide for you what is right and what is wrong. That question is: "If a Child heard this or Saw this, what would THEY think?" If you truly believe that is IS All About The Children, then you have your answer. What seems to be a complex problem isn't so complex at all, when you stop and think about it.To All, I wish you a very Happy, Blessed and Delightful Independence Day Celebration.
Cindylu

A look back at Celebrate Santa 2009

Santa Bill McKee has very graciously allowed us bring you the following from the Red Suit Gazette. "A look back at Celebrate Santa 2009."

A STORY FROM SANTA DANNY NEASE

The Nease Family

My Family and I decided to stay in the Gatlinburg area until Friday and on Thursday night we drove to a nearby town to have dinner with a friend and his family who live in the area. We met them at local restaurant and had a good meal and great time and before we left, the manager came over to our table and started talking to us. The conversation I had with him has stuck in my mind and I cannot for the life of me, come to terms with what he told me. I don’t really know if I can put into words what I am trying to say. This may be one of those things that you would have "just had to been there" to understand.As I said before the manager came over and started talking to me. He asked me about CS and wanted to know if I had had a good time. After awhile he said he wanted to tell me something, I said OK and he started his story. For brevity I will give you the main points. This man has two small children. Three years ago he lost his job and went through a very rough time. That year at Christmas he did not have money to buy many presents for his children. He told me he had a few presents for them but they were clothes that the children desperately needed anyway and he just wrapped them up so they would have presents under the tree. He said he did manage to buy them a few toys to wrap at the Family Dollar store but they were not much at all.Him and his kids went to bed on Christmas Eve and when they got up on Christmas morning, the two kids had a few "extra presents" under the tree. They were very expensive toys and they were exactly what his kids had asked Santa for. The tags on the presents said: With love, from Santa.This man swore to me that he had absolutely no idea how those presents got under their tree. He said he had no family in the area and very few friends. He told me that he did ask around and no one that he knew said they had anything to do with the presents getting under their tree. He said that after awhile he just thanked God for whoever gave them those presents and went on with his life.He told me all of this to let me know that he REALLY believed in Santa Claus and that he appreciated all that we as his helpers do for everyone.As I said before, I do not know what to make of that conversation but I will say that was one of the more memorable moments from my trip to Celebrate Santa and it is a conversation I think I will remember for a long, long time.

Story submitted by Danny Nease

ANNOUNCING TWO MORE CHAIR PERSONS

After a great deal of discussion we decided that we would make another change in the Chair positions. Santa Mack is going to step down as Workshop Chair. I have asked two people who I feel are very qualified to become co-chairs for the workshops. They are Santa Tom Pelliteri from Toledo, and Santa Carlucci from Minnesota. Both of these men have a great understanding of the types of things that Santa's, Mrs. Claus, and helpers would want to learn more about. I wll be sending them the information on those that we have already selected as presenters as well as those that are wanting to present. I will be assisting them in whatever way I can.

They will be looking for more professionals to fill in slots as well. We are finding that you do not have to be a Santa or Mrs. Claus to provide vital information for our industry to improve. So if you have anythoughts on what you might like to have presented at Celebrate Santa 2010 please let us know. We are here to provide you with the best we can.

So now that means that Joe and Mary asked me to take over another position as well as being Executive Chair I will be the parade chair as well. It is our hope to put on a Parade next year in Gatlinburg like that town has never seen before. With the parade being the kickoff event it is going to require a great deal of preperation so that everyone will know where there place will be in the parade. It is also means that I will be looking for some very special volunteers to work as parade Marshalls along the route to help keep the flow going.

We will be publishing the parade route as well as the guidelines that we are given by the City. If you want to Participate in the parade there will be a form that we will need filled out. It would be nice to see Santa's from all over the world and flags to reprsent each state province and country represented.

I will be looking for bands from the schools as well as pipe and drum bands. I will be trying to locate floats for the groups that would like to have floats. That will be on a first come first serve basis though so get your request into me early.

This is going to be a lot of fun and hopefully I will be able to do this job as well as I think I did with the workshops.

Phil has done a great job of submitting his stories for the blog and I appreciate the help he is giving me with it. We would like to see more of your stories here as well so send them on in to me.

All Yall come on back real soon to keep up with the goins on.

Little Elf Girl

People have said that a picture is worth a thousand words. I guess that is true, but when you start reviewing the 1,100 pictures that you have on discs from the Celebrate Santa Convention in Gatlinburg, a million words does not even come close. These great pictures were taken by Santa Dutch, Santa Buddy, Brian, DeAnn and a friend of Santa JG. The pictures capture quite an array of subjects and are a collection of the timeline of the Convention that will always be frozen in time.

Of all the pictures, one stands out more than any other one for me. While there were hundreds of pictures of Santas, Mrs. Claus, great displays in the showcase, wonderful workshops, the opening and closing ceremonies and of course the parade, the picture that sums up Celebrate Santa for me is a picture of a child.

I saw this young lady at the Convention, at the Park Vista Hotel and in the parade. She was always dressed as an elf and was always gracious, polite and well mannered. The charm she had added greatly to the magical atmosphere that was Celebrate Santa.

I often try to look at life through the eyes of a child and I wonder what went through her mind with all the events she attended. The simpleness of the photo showing this young girl from the train car she rode in during the Holly and Shamrock Parade looking at the thousands of spectators on the street sums up the Convention and why we all do this…the magic in the eyes of a child.

Celebrate Santa had many magical and memorable moments…but more importantly it was about the child that dwells inside all of us. This little “elf” girl reminded me of that every time I saw her. Thanks for being a part of my memories of the Convention.

Coat of Arms

The first ceremony of the Santa Claus Oath was held at Celebrate Santa. Since that time we have been pondering an idea.

Working with a professional graphic artist, Michael Rielly and I have been working on a historically correct Coat of Arms for the Santa Claus Oath. The Santa Claus Oath Coat of Arms represents the Oath with the following elements:

Shield
The shield shape is consistent with the time of St. Nicholas.

Symbols
The letters S and C represent the name of Santa Claus.
The candy canes symbolize the two legendary Santas, Charles Howard and Jim Yellig. The canes are crossed as Yellig's and Howard's paths crossed only once. The lower part of the shield has the three acknowledged symbols of St. Nicholas, the miter (bishop's hat) the crosier (shepherds staff) and three gold coins, representing the gold given to provide dowries to impoverished maidens.

Reindeer
There are two reindeer that flank the shield. One reindeer represents designer bearded Santas and the other represents real bearded Santas. The reindeer have come together in unity to uphold the shield and uphold their pledge to the Santa Claus Oath.

Grapevines
At the top and bottom of the shield and reindeer there are grapevines. The grapevines are an ancient symbol for the thirst and quest of knowledge.

Banner
Completing the Coat of Arms is a banner with “Santa Claus Oath” on it.

Colors
The colors of the Santa Claus Coat of Arms are the traditional Christian colors of Christmas. Red is for the blood of Christ, Green is for the Eternal life in Christ and gold is for Christ the Divine.

The Santa Claus Oath Coat of Arms has eight elements. These eight elements represent the eight principles that make up the Santa Claus Oath.

The Shield
The SC Letters
The Crossed Candy Canes
The Traditional Symbols of St. Nicholas
The Reindeer
The Grapevines
The Banner
The Colors

As part of the Santa Claus Oath's continuing commitment to Santa America that we made at the Celebrate Santa Convention, we will be using the Coat of Arms in some special fund raising projects. We just got back the TM paperwork on the image for protection and now we have to meet with John Scheuch, the new Executive Director of Santa America this July in Chicago to discuss some concepts. As always ALL the proceeds will go to charity. As I promised, the Oath will never be used to make money, but it will be used to raise money for children.

PLW

Odd Man Out

Below is from Phil Wenz on his experience at the Holly and Shamrock Parade.


I have been involved in many “Santa” parades…matter of fact 30 of them…from televised parades in large cities like Chicago and Houston, to small parades in rural communities and beyond. So it was kind of odd for me when I was not in full regalia for the Holly and Shamrock Parade at Celebrate Santa. I was involved in the parade, but in a different role this time.

I had the wonderful opportunity to be one of the co-hosts for the syndicated broadcast of this event. And I must say that I had the best seat in the house. To be able to watch and comment on such a fantastic parade was more fun than a Santa in a cookie bakery.


Watching from above the parkway, on the balcony of the Midtown Lodge, the view was incredible. To see the nearly 600 participants all dressed in red, white and green proceeding down the winding road towards the TV zone brought a tear to my eye. This was going to be a parade with Santa like no other before.

The police estimated the crowd at nearly 20,000 people. The fathers, mothers, children and families that lined the street were at a Mardi Gras pitch. You could see excitement and feel it in the air. The atmosphere was pure magic!

As the parade progressed below our vantage point, I saw the faces of the hundreds of Santas, Mrs. Claus and elves beam with as much excitement as the spectators that viewed the parade. Somewhere during this event, the reality of the real world was suspended and the fantasy of childhood became the reality.


Even Mother Nature got in on the act. The preceding days before the parade it had rained, but on parade day the sky was as blue as the ocean and there were only a couple clouds in the sky. Some how deep inside, I knew that up there in the clouds were Charles (Howard), Jim (Yellig), Bill (Strother) and even St Nicholas looking down with smiles on their faces.

As the parade ended, we rapped up the broadcast and headed back up to the convention center. As I walked, I listened to the comments of the people who had just seen this event. Needless to say, the comments reflected my feelings…it was just spectacular!

As I stated before, it was odd for me not being in this parade, but this time I was happy being the odd man out.

WE WANT YOUR STORIES

We put out some notices yesterday about wanting you to submit that special story from Celebrate Santa 2009 as well as a photo if you have it. It is thought that you might enjoy sharing them with other Santa's those that made it there and those that want to come in the future. We are sure there are hundreds of cute little bits out there and a great many where you have touched someone else's life. So just send them into us and we can get them on the blog. We will give credit to the right people for their submission, and remember it will always be your story.

I received a couple stories from a third party this morning that I am going to start out with here, our preference though is that you send them in yourself.

The first one come to us from Santa Markus.

Yesterday ( June 4Th) we lost power here at our house as normally happens during one of our afternoon thunderstorms,,,but unlike most days,,it didn't come right back on. I called the power company and was told they would be out as soon as possible.3 hours later they drive down out street looking for the outage. Of course I went out and was talking to one of the workmen when he looked at me kinda funny and said "Wait,,were you just in Gatlinburg?"Of course I said that I was and he said,,"yup,,you were with the Palmtree Santa's and were handing out candy canes,,,,My kids loved them""..................I was floored that he would remember ME out of all the Santa's that were there,,,,,,but it just shows that each child's (no matter the age) heart went to a special Santa just for them,,,,,.I plan on making an extra special Christmas Eve stop for this family.Funny how God works to bring us together with the family's in the world,,and as I have said a million times,,,,,,
I LOVE THIS LIFE
Yours in Christ;Santa Markus

The next one comes to us from our very own the sweetheart of Alabama Cindylu
Since the CS convention in March, Santa Charlie and I have run into numerous people that were there and recognized him. Even Mrs. Claus got an e-mail from a little fan, Jake, age 5 who wanted Mrs. Claus to come to his birthday party in a couple weeks from now. Of course, we're here in Alabama, right next door to Tn. and at the time the convention was going on, the schools here in Alabama were out for spring break and a LOT, and I do mean a LOT of people from Alabama were in Gatlinburg that week. Many were absolutely amazed when they got there that the convention was going on who told us they definitely would be making this an annual visit!We were recently in a Fish Market restaurant and the lady that took the orders recognized our truck as having been in the parade and was so excited, she messed up our order 3 times and had to get another person to come put it in the computer for her....LOL...I can hardly wait for CS 2010, but I know there's much work to be done.Cindylu

MEET CINDYLU AND CHARLIE

The Chair people have had several conference call meetings planning for Celebrate Santa 2010. According to most of the feedback we have been getting, some of you might have been asking yourself how we could possibly top 2009. Some of us have asked the same thing. Well it appears that we have some very good ideas on that coming your way. Some of you will remember Billy Crystal hosting the Academy Awards shows, and a great many people did not care who was winning what they just wanted to see how Billy could top the previous year’s performance. So that is what we are going to bring to you.
No not Billy Crystal just some new and better things guaranteed to blow your caps off and rocket you into new dimensions of Claus.

It is time to start doing formal introductions of some of our new Chair people. One couple decided right away that they wanted to contribute to Celebrate Santa they are
Cindylu and Charlie Thomas stepped forward so we asked them to Co-Chair
Event Relations & Gala. They will be responsible for decorating the Gala, running our new Information Booth, and handling all the information needed to be disseminated to all our participants. We thank Cindylu and Santa Charlie for volunteering to handle this for Celebrate Santa

We are sure that quite a number of you know who they are but we thought it would be a good idea to give you a bit of a biography on each of them.
Santa Charlie retired from American Cast Iron Pipe Company after 34 years of service and now portrays Santa year around. He has been married to Cindylu Thomas for the past 38 years and they have two children and three grandchildren, all girls, ages 21, 15 and 10.
Santa Charlie received his calling to portray Santa in 2003. At the time he was employed full time. As a Foreman for American Cast Iron Pipe Company and had been there over 30 years. Through those 30 years he always had a beard and mustache but it was Fiery Red in color and he kept it trimmed to about an inch. Through the years, it went dark grey, then a lighter grey, then nearly white.
One Day he and his wife were enjoying Dinner at the Cracker Barrel Restaurant when out of nowhere he heard a shriek and loud “SANTA, SANTA”! He saw a little girl running toward him full steam ahead; he had no idea where she was going until she landed square in his lap and immediately began telling him what she wanted for Christmas. The entire Restaurant burst into instant laughter, including Santa Charlie. A few months later friends were hosting a Christmas party and he decided to spice things up a bit and found a Santa Suit at Sears on sale for $35.00. In the past, that particular party had been attended by Adults only, but this year, unknown to Santa Charlie, children had been invited as well.
When he rang the doorbell, a little girl answered the door and the look in her eyes and expression on her face lives in Santa Charlie’s mind still today as the turning point and a clear recognition that he was receiving another ‘calling’. There were several children at the party and every single one of them was in awe that the ‘real’ Santa had chosen to come to their party! He was hooked from then on and set out to become the best Santa he could possibly be.
Santa Charlie has attended numerous workshops, classes and other educational avenues to accomplish the most authentic ‘look’ and also learn how to deal with every situation that could possibly arise in his travels to visit with children.
He believes that every day is not only a new day but a new day to learn new things to become a better Santa. He also gives thanks to God for allowing him to have the best ‘job’ in the world!
A bit of information on Cindylu, Wife to Santa Charlie 38 years, mother of 2, Grandmother to 3 girls. Current Adoptive mother to one dog, Rocky.
Spent most of my life in Alabama but have traveled to many places over the years.

I entered the workforce at the tender age of 15 working as an usherette in our local theatre on week-ends to earn some money of my own. Consequently, I was able to see all the movies free as a perk and fell in love with the beautiful movie stars. I watched their every move and noticed every single feature about the way they looked and especially the hairdos. That prompted me to enter beauty school, graduate and start what I hoped to be a long and prosperous career in the Beauty business. Unfortunately it was not to be as my physical ability to work the long hours on my feet caused a lot of medical problems to arise.
Having to change I went into the Insurance field, and I worked the next 30 years in that field in various positions, most of which were in management positions My Mom instilled a philosophy in me and my siblings to always be the best at whatever we do, whether it’s digging ditches, being a Doctor or whatever our chosen field, and I have tried my best to live up to that way of thinking.

It was through my work in Insurance, that I learned how to deal with the public and took several public speaking courses. I took several other college courses along the way and all the while kept up with the latest in the ‘Beauty Business’ as well. I also took law courses and became a qualified paralegal which I put to good use after having to go into early retirement and work on a Semi-retirement basis in a small criminal law office as a paralegal for the next 6 years.

Again, I retired, but that retirement was also short lived as Charlie and I decided to enter into the wonderful world of “Santa” in 2002 and in 2003 formed our small business under the name of BamaSanta.

Cindylu has become the go to lady for information on how Santas can best take care of their hair and beards. She is always willing to share her insights with anyone who asks.

We are very excited to have Cindylu and Charlie as a team on our team. We will be having some more help with our blog as well. There will be guest contributors to help keep us fresh and keep everyone from getting bored with me. Changing things up a bit is good I look forward to the guest contributors.

We are looking for some key people to assist with next years gathering on of those people is a Parade Chairperson. If you think you got what it takes let us know as soon as possible. The other thing I would like to bring up is that I am still looking for a few more people that have a workshop idea and would like to present it. I have some that I am reviewing now and not all will be selected. All of our workshops will be repeated this year so you will have two opportunities to attend these great workshops.

Rocky seys to tell all yall he’s a lookin forward to having a meet up with yall next March.

INTRODUCING PAM CAVENDER

It is time to introduce everyone to another workshop presenter for Celebrate Santa 2010 WWW “What a Wonderful World”. Pam Cavender will be presenting a workshop titled “Beyond the Beard and Red Suit - Improving Santa’s Image”

Pam believes that in all of us there lays a more professional image just waiting to emerge. “Image” is so much more than a beard and red suit. Rather, it is polishing ones visual, verbal and non verbal skills. Pam’s career has been image! She appeared with Academy Award winner Kathy Bates in Fried
Green Tomatoes. She was selected by her peers as “Most Congenial” in the Mrs. Georgia pageant. She is also a graduate of the internationally known London Image Institute. Pam is dedicated to making a better you.

She will be coving topics such as What are the characteristics and traits of Santa, Children’s impression of the Jolly Old Elf, Santa’s body language and communication skills, Being Santa 24/7 and 365 days a year.

We are please that Pam came to us with this workshop idea. She put her presentation together and got it to me right away to review. I do have to say it did not take much for her to do that as it is what she has been doing professionally for others. This is just one of the many professional types of workshops that we will be offering for you.

If you have a workshop that you would like to present at Celebrate Santa 2010 WWW. get in touch with me and we ca review it.

Our next Blog posting will be the start of introductions of some of our new chairs; you will want to stay tuned in for these postings. We have had some excellent people step up and want to help out so we have picked a few for key positions on our committees.

We will be looking for some other volunteers as well so if you are interested in volunteering for anything let us know. One of the things I will be looking for are room host. These are the people who will introduce presenters, hand out and pick up evaluations, as well as keep the workshops moving on time. If this is something you would like to do let me know.

I am so pleased that we are up to 1200 visitors since the new blog started and 20
Friends of Celebrate Santa who are following our blog. And since the beginning of our blog we have had over 12,000 visitors from 2300 cities around the world. I should have an update on where our confirmed registrations are from by the next posting.

Rocky saays “all yall keep comin back fer mor infurmation bout the big Santee get together next Maurch”.

WORKSHOPS

We have selected two of the workshops and presenters for Celebrate Santa 2010 “What a Wonderful World” The first workshop is going to be Media Relations for Santa. Presented by Tim Cavender who has over 35 years experience in media relations and 35
years as an experienced Santa Claus. Tim has portrayed Santa on radio and television,
including an appearance on a regional television commercial that appeared in eleven
different states. He has also had numerous articles written on him in newspapers and
magazines.
Cavender is also a well know magician, comedian and motivational speaker who has
Spoken to hundreds of organizations and groups including Fortune 500 companies. He
has opened for NASCAR great Darrell Waltrip and has been the recipient of numerous
national awards in photography and videography.

I will tell everyone about the other workshop in my next posting. So that everyone knows this year we are making some changes to our workshop plans. At this point we are going to have only 18 different workshops. Every workshop will be repeated so that you will have more of an opportunity to attend. This still gives us a total of 36 different breakouts and hopefully everyone will be able to attend the workshops that they like.

We are going to have Santa’s Showcase in Mills auditorium. That keeps the Vendors and the workshops on the same floor. We are going to have two smaller rooms set up like hospitality areas and one will be strictly for the Mrs. Claus while the other will be for anyone that just wants to sit down and visit.

Check out our numbers here we have had over ,000 visitors to our blog since we revised it on April 5th. Since last year we have had over 12,000 visitors from 2,276 different cities around the world. Plus we are up to 18 friends signed up to follow our Blog. By doing this you will automatically get notices of new posting.

Now yall know Rocly is bein sortu busy he did give me a holler ta uter day. Wunted me ta pass along a big howdy from him to all ya Santies un Mrs. Claus. So we wunto ask all yall to kep cumin bak here fur the nu stuff goin on heer.

MTV AND OTHER UPDATES

Phil Wenz gave me a call yesterday to tell me that MTV has been editing the taping they did at Celebrate Santa 2009. Phil told me that it is sounding good so far so watch for further updates about when there documentary might air.

I have had a few people put in suggestions for workshops for Celebrate Santa 2010 and we are interested in any other ideas or presenters that may want to put on workshops. If you are interested send me an e-mail to Santa Mack and I will send back to you what we are requiring of our presenters. We are going to have some of our presenters back next year but we feel it is also necessary to change things up and offer some variety every year.

Our chairpeople have all been working on different aspects of Celebrate Santa 2010 and we will be in conference Tuesday evening going over some of these things. We have read all of your comments and suggestions and we are listening, of course some of the suggestions we had made the same decisions on before the end of the convention.

There have been some fantastic explosions of memberships on Clausnet since Celebrate Santa 2009 as well as on Face book. We have a page on face book now as well. Someone had signed up there and said it is almost like being at Celebrate Santa. From Face book we have made some new International friends and now have several other countries that have committed to come to Celebrate Santa 2010. That does fit with our theme of "What a Wonderful World" has anybody noticed that is also a WWW.

Don't forget to check out the Celebrate Santa Store for registration, gifts, Mary has Vendor registration set up there as well.

For the almost 100 that went on the trip to the Biltmore and the half that were on the Rolling Comedy Barn Bus I have good news. Our friend and bus driver Rocky (David McGill) and I got together on the telephone last night and he gave me the real run down on who are the most fun to have on a bus. So in order it is #1. Santa's #2. Red Hat Ladies #3. Shriner's. I always thought that the Shriner's were the party people but it looks as though we surpassed all of them. He told me that the Santa's were so far ahead of the rest that it is no contest anymore. I wonder if the Carlucci on the bus had anything to do with that!

So now we will be ending our post with what we we call Rockyisms so these things come right from him. He assured me that he would lurn me everthin I shud now about bein haer in Tenasee. The furst thin I need to lurn is how to say the name of the town I live in. It is sayed like this Savurvall and he lives in Marvall.

FRIENDS OF CELEBRATE SANTA

I needed to change the title of one of the listings on the side bar of our blog. Google has a gadget that they called followers and there was just something it I did not like so I changed the title to Friends of Celebrate Santa. So far we have 14 on there and I would like to invite all of you to sign up as a Friend of Celebrate Santa.

Some of you might want to check out the new Celebrate Santa Face Book page as well. It is a fun place to be. I have not liked those social networks out there but this one seems to be pretty good place. You may very well find it a nice place to connect with some of the folks you met at Celebrate Santa 2009. This spot will also give you a chance to connect with some of those you could meet at Celebrate Santa 2010.

I have had a great response to the different Santa Groups out there and have been adding them in as they come in. There have even been a couple Mrs. Claus groups come in that I was not aware of and they have been added as well. Now if there are any that I am missing you can get the information to me by clicking on the comments section at the end of each post. In fact if there is anything you want to comment on please feel free to leave a comment whenever you like.

Watch here in the future for a variety of Rockyisms that will show up, just to help some out with Southern culture.

WONDERFUL WORLD OF SANTA GROUPS

I have been able to get many Santa Groups linked on the side bar as well as a Mrs. Claus group. I have sent e-mails to those that I could not find websites or chat rooms for asking for the correct link. If you have a group that is not listed please contact me so that we can get it on our blog. Due to the fact that our theme for 2010 is "What a Wonderful World" I a inviting all groups around the world to send in information on their group.

We also have a Celebrate Santa on Face book There is an RSVP on there that you might want to look into as well.

I am still working on restoring some of the links we had on the blog in the past as well as some of the other gadgets as well as new ones. It looks like we have more people signing up in the followers section it is nice to see that people are watching and seeing what is going on with Celebrate Santa 2010.

Yall keep coming back now heer!

HAPPY EASTER

Everyone at Celebrate Santa would like to wish all of our friends out there a Happy Easter!

Celebrate Santa 2009 ended and all of the chairs went right back to work on an improved 2010. There are some changes in the works and we feel that they will all be for the best. As you know this is the place to get the most current updates for Celebrate Santa 2010 "What a Wonderful World".

Some things to keep in mind you can sign up as a follower of this blog and get updates sent right to you when they are posted. Just click on the Followers box in the side bar. You can also leave comments on this blog if you like as well just click on the comments box at the bottom. If you are not a blogger you can leave your comments as anonymous if you like.

I do know we are going to be improving on the parade so your group may want to come up with something for a float, it would be nice to have everyone keep the theme in mind for their floats or sleighs. It does look like the parade will be going the down hill, we are just waiting on some confirmations on that change. The other main thing to keep note of is that the parade will be in the evening on Saturday March 13th. It will be the kickoff for the City of Gatlinburg and we are not planning anything else for you to do that night.

With our theme of "What a Wonderful World" I am hoping that we can get more people from around the world to come join us. That is why you will notice in the side bar there are more maps to fill in. I will also be adding links to the various Santa Groups that are out there. This will be happening in time. If I miss your group you can send me an e-mail with all of the information to mackatcelebratesanadotcom. I put my e-mail in that way to eliminate getting a bunch of junk e-mail. Some of you may notice that this is a new e-mail address, I was looking for something a little bit more simple.

We will be looking at putting in some new workshops for next year, so if you have any thoughts let me know. Just so everyone knows we plan on bringing back some of those that we had last year as well.

The Celebrate Santa Store is open so check in on it and see what we have available for you.

So now we are getting back up to speed we hope to be hearing from all of our friends out there.

THREE MAGICAL DAYS

I hope everyone enjoys this it was put together by Phil Wenz for our enjoyment. Oh and I am still trying make more changes to our layout here.

THIS IS THE RIGHT PLACE....JUST MAKING CHANGES

I am working on changes to our Celebrate Santa Blog. My plan is to make it easier for everyone to read and find previous items that had been written in the blog. The blogger program does not necessarily let me really preview what it looks like until it is up on the blog. So if you check back every hour or so you will probably see something different. I will have all of the links and counters that we had up before it just takes some time with getting the template the way we want it, and making improvements to the layout.



So if everyone will be patient I will get it up with all the new information included.



Some new information I can go ahead and put in this blog is that CELEBRATE SANTA 2010 will start with a Parade on Saturday evening March 13th. Workshops will start on Sunday March 14th and wrap on on March 15th. There will be a closing Ceremony on the March 16th and everyone will have time to shop and visit a little more during this event.



We listened to your comments, in fact by the time we started through them we were already having some of the same thoughts. We will not ever be having a Gala and a Parade on the Same day again. We will not be having a live auction during the Gala. We will be trying to get some of our presenters back for those that missed them. Not to mention we are looking at some new workshops already. Whenever possible we will be repeating them so that you will not miss anything. That is a tough one as there are just too many good workshops to attend.



Now there is a link to the Celebrate Santa Store right on top of the column to the right. The followers section will be back up as well as the country visitor section. The Santa group links and special places to visit in the area. So most of the previous items will be back



Santacerely,

Mack

IT'S ALIVE

Our new Celebrate Santa Store is up and running! Featuring DVD’s, Patches, Hats, Souvenir Programs, a variety of T-Shirts and Hoodies, even blinking pins!Did you miss the 2009 Celebration – “Reach Higher Ground”? Well here is your chance to see everything that happened and to see your friends and groups in the parade with our high quality professionally produced DVDs.PLUS you can even register for “Celebrate Santa 2010 – What a Wonderful World!” right through our store! All Early Bird Discounts apply. Go to the Celebrate Santa Store and shop to your hearts content.

We Hear You!

While we are leaving the poll up through Monday, March 30th, we see the overwhelming response to keep Easter and Celebrate Santa separate. Therefore we will be returning to Gatlinburg at mid-March. But for those who want some of this to take place on the weekend, we may have a compromise that will please everyone including the city and us.

Now one of the changes will be in registering for your hotel. NO MATTER WHERE you want to stay, you will have one number to call and will know the true availability and all discounts will apply. SO whether you want to stay at our host hotel or a cozy cabin in the mountains, you can reserve your stay through this one number. So what’s the number? We will post that on the website www.celebratesanta.com as soon as it is assigned to us.

We also looked at each and every evaluation and received many fine comments. We have already made changes to 2010 such as separating the Holly & Shamrock Parade and Gala into two different days, and allowing more time to socialize and shop. We are already working on surprises for next year and most will follow our theme – What A Wonderful World.

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

We cannot thank each of you enough for making Celebrate Santa such a huge success. It was definitely a large learning curve for us, and there were many things we didn’t figure into our budget. The good news is the City of Gatlinburg has now elevated Celebrate Santa into a MAJOR city event, which will afford us more support and assistance. We thank you for all your fabulous comments, and have posted many of them to our website for others to see.

Our Chairs did a phenomenal job and everyone of them worked incredibly hard. Special kudos need to go to Phil Wenz, Tim Mack, Bob Elkin, Dutch Schrap and Michael Rielly. All did an unbelievable job in their respective endeavors and we can assure you that without any of these people, Celebrate Santa wouldn’t have been nearly as wonderful. We are happy to say that each of these talented people signed on for 2010. So guess what you can expect next March?!

As always you can get all the latest information on Celebrate Santa and Celebrate Santa Blog. We will be completely revamping our website over the next three weeks, but keep in mind how fast time will March on!
Santa Joe Moore

We will also be making changes to this blog as soon as I have the mid Marc dates confirmed. Hopefully new and improved. I want to thank everyone for their votes on our Poll. I really liked getting the comments and being able to post them here. It is nice to get the interaction.

So someone pulled a Carlucci, and we got a whole lot of interest sparked here on the blog. We had the most visitors in one day this last week it was in the vicinity of 500 in a 24 hour period.

Now if you are interested here is the definitive on what will forever be known as a Carlucci.

A CARLUCCI or SANTA’S GONE WILD

Now I had planned on staying low key on this one, but my name came up so now I just have to put in a nickels worth.

First of all someone known as Santa TB had these crazy balloons in the lobby. As some of us were innocently chatting he would set one of these things off every now and again. Then came the life threatening moment....he set one off and it hit C_____u right in the back of the head and just stayed there squealing away. When she finally regained her composure I though SantaTB would just be a memory but just for a moment.... then everyone had one of the first big laughs.

Then TB started telling stories and sharing a few of these little latex monsters. They started flying around and some were trying to aim them at certain others. I think one even scared the pants off one of the people working in the restaurant. Then came the how high will it go thing, we got to somewhere between 8 to 10 floors.

All of a sudden a devilish grin came over TB's face, and he said "If I go up to my room and get a bunch of theses things will everybody blow one up and send them off all at once." When he got a few to say sure he was off like a bullet to the 14th floor, he got a whole bunch of these things but just could not come right back down the elevator he sent one off from the 14th. It seems the night manager had seen who was responsible and watched him come down the elevator. When he got off he looked like that mischievous little boy about to cause some problems, with balloon packages hanging out of his pockets.

The night manager sort of followed him over to where we were sitting and then heard of our plan. She was not happy and TB already had one blown up so he managed to get her to hold on to this long balloon for a moment and then TB let go of it and so did she... So now we had an accomplice. She then said it was just too noisy for the lobby area. After D___h, suggested many other places he finally negotiated for the lower area, she just would not let us go to the pool. So off we went to this lower long hallway, there to many of us to count by this time. Was this the beginning of that dance someone spoke of earlier? We had one person with a camera at the other end and I think it was Ba__S___a who gave us the countdown and the all went off and there was a great Photo.

This was not enough for all of the people who were wound up to nine days on a seven day clock. So minds(less) started working and then I think it was P__l who said lets go up to Joe and Mary’s room with these things. It was about 10:20pm and D__a had just been up there about 9:45 and said they were going to bed. So my first thought was no we do not want to do this. Then it was pointed out to me by I think D____a that all but one of the chairs were there participating in this fiasco. So I had to say ok and quickly started to devise a plan to get into their room, and two elevators packed full of Santa's and Mrs. Claus's headed to the 15th floor. When we all got off I was able to get them to wait quietly(HA HA) around the corner while I got in. Knocking on the door was no good, Joe could not hear it.( When he goes to sleep he really goes to sleep) so I pulled out my trusty Cell and called Mary. I told her that it was very important that I talk to Joe. She let me into the living room area and went to wake Joe up. I had left the door open a crack and Joe came out in his jammies and bathrobe, when I said lets sit down over here and talk we have a serious problem. That was when I proceeded to tell him that all of his chairs were in the Lobby causing a big problem and we were all going to get......... That’s when the door flew open and something like 15 of theses noisy buzzing balloons came flying into the room. The looks on Joe and Mary's faces were priceless. (There may be a video of this one out there someplace, that I am sure will surface for the right price. SANTA’S GONE WILD)

Well in all of the confusion that ensued we were trying to find someone to blame it on. You see being the chair people we could not take the blame for this one. So Carlucci's name came up and the decision was made that it was him who planned the whole thing. Joe asked where he was at and we told him in the lobby. Joe said watch this, and he stormed out of his room in his jammies and bathrobe no slippers and went for the elevator right to the lobby stomping his way over to Carlucci. He then asked him what he was trying to pull waking him out of a very good sleep etc. This was while we all stood looking over the edge from the 15th floor listening to this.

Carlucci did not have a clue, he later told me that by the time Joe got to him you could not tell that he was joking around and he was sure he was in big BIG trouble then this little grin started from the side of Joe's mouth and everyone laughed. As we All Went down the elevators T__C________n said we should dub the prank a Carlucci. So that is the definitive on what happened the night that SANTA'S WENT WILD. I stand corrected on who was responsible for the dubbing a Carlucci. It was a joint effort of three.

A Carlucci (definition) –noun a playful trick, often involving some physical agent or means, in which one victim is placed in an embarrassing or disadvantageous position while another victim is given the responsibility for it being placed in the same position most often occurring at a Santa related event.

Some of the names were changed to protect the innocent, and some of them may not be right anyway you just need to fill in the blanks yourself or you will have to find the video.

IMPORTANT POLL YOU DECIDE

We need your input on this one. It is important for us to know how you feel, and what you want so we are setting up a poll. The City of Gatlinburg has told us we could have Easter Weekend guaranteed for the next 5 (FIVE) years. Or we would have to stay with the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, in mid March. So we want to have a say in this before we commit. This Poll will only run for five days, so contact your friends and make sure they know about it. You will only be able to vote once.



I am still going through surveys and there are some things that we are definitely going to be changing for next year. First off NO parade and Gala on the same day. Second we will have announcement boards set up around the convention center. Our key people will be using two way radios rather than depending on Cell Phones. That is the beginning as we said we are listening to what you want.

UPDATES FROM CELEBRATE SANTA

Celebrate Santa 2009 is in the history books, at least for some. Now I have thousands of evaluations to go through to see what you liked and disliked. It has taken a bit of time to recuperate from this event. We tried to take a couple days off from it all and not think about it, that was a laugh. How can you stop thinking about something that was the biggest high I have ever had. My life has been changed forever. We had great people working with us without all of them, and all of those who attended this would not have had been such a success.

When someone asked me the last day of the convention "what are you going to do next?" my answer was start working on next years Celebrate Santa. That is already happening. Joe, Mary, Dana and myself had a meeting yesterday to discuss a few things about next year. Then Joe and Mary had a brief meeting with the Gatlinburg Convention Center people. So as we said next years is already in the works.

We are back at it again, we are going to make next years Celebrate Santa even better. I do know we will not have a Parade and a Gala on the Same day. We will have announcement boards in several areas, we will give you more time to shop, and or network with your fellows. There will be maps in your program and posted in the convention center. We tried to use ell phones for communication this year and it just did not work. Next year our chairs and other key people will have radios. We will also maintain an information booth for any questions. AS well as many other things yet to be told. We are going to make it easier on everyone.

Celebrate Santa was one of those events that people from all walks of life, places and situations came together for one common objective; to Celebrate the Santa that dwells in all of us. For three fast paced days, strangers became friends and then friends became family. As with any family some of our members experienced some difficulties while the were with us at the expo.
John Scheuch called me to inform us that Ernest and Elizabeth Berger got home Saturday. Ernest is doing fine and will finish his recuperation at home. Sadly when they did return home, Elizabeth was given the sad news that her 31 year old daughter had passed away unexpectedly. Our prayers go out to the Berger’s at this time. Please keep them in your prayers too.
Also keep in your prayer Brenda Smith-Myles, who presented the autism workshop. Brenda returned home to have to leave again quickly to be with her ill daughter in Spain.
Some of you might have not known that John Scheuch’s mother in law's funeral services were held last Saturday. He informed us it was a wonderful celebration of her life. Our prayers go out to John’s family.

Now that we have all gone our separate ways, we hope you all enjoyed Celebrate Santa as much as we did in preparing the convention for you. Celebrate Santa will be a annual convention with a new look every year. Next year, 2010, our theme is “What a Wonderful World.” We will keep you posted as to what will be taking place.

Again, thanks to all our attendees, presenters, vendors and volunteer that made Celebrate Santa a milestone in our industry and in our Santa family.

Sincerely,

Joe & Mary Moore
Tim & Dana Mack
Phillip Wenz
Bob Elkin
Tom Zimecki
Dutch Schrap
Michael Rielly
Amy Abell

IT IS HAPPENING NOW JOIN US FOR THE OATH

We kicked off Celebrate Santa this evening with a meet and greet session at the Park Vista hotel at 5:00 pm this evening. So far as I can tell it was a sucess. Everyone was having a good time.

We would like to ask any and all Santa's around the world to join us at 9:30 am eastern standard time to take a moment and join us by taking the Santa Oath with those of us here in Gatlinburg.
Yes we have it timed out and everyone will be taking it together.

THE SANTA CLAUS OATH
I will seek knowledge to be well versed in the mysteries of bringing Christmas cheer and good will to all the people that I encounter in my journeys and travels. I shall be dedicated to hearing the secret dreams of both children and adults. I understand that the true and only gift I can give, as Santa, is me. I acknowledge that some of the requests I will hear will be difficult and sad. I know in these difficulties there lays an opportunity to bring a spirit of warmth, understanding and compassion. I know the "real reason for the season" and know that I am blessed to be able to be a part of it. I realize that I belong to a brotherhood and will be supportive, honest and show fellowship to my peers. I promise to use "my" powers to create happiness, spread love and make fantasies come to life in the true and sincere tradition of the Santa Claus Legend. I pledge myself to these principles as a descendant of St. Nicholas the gift giver of Myra.

The contents, words and descriptions of the Santa Claus Oath are copyrighted under an attachment with Arcadia Publishing 2008 by Phillip L. Wenz. ISBN # 978-0-7385-4149-5LCCC # 2007925452The Santa Claus Oath is also protected and registered with Creative Commons License 2008 by Phillip L. Wenz

MTV AT CELEBRATE SANTA

Directors, the Executive Producer and a film crew from M-TV will be attending Celebrate Santa to film portions of a documentary on Santa Claus. The Executive Director and the Project Director have been in conference calls with our Special Projects Chairman Phil Wenz and agreements have been reached for the participation of Celebrate Santa in this film project. Santa Phil has helped set the blocking and will be working on this on behalf of both Celebrate Santa and the production company.
The documentary is an independent film that will feature some history of Santa, those who play the character and venues that Santa is seen in. Upon completion of the project, the film will appear this upcoming Christmas. This is an independent project from M-TV Productions and will not be necessarily shown on that channel. M-TV is a part of Viacom which include: Music Television, Nickelodeon, VH1, BET, Comedy Central, Paramount Pictures, Paramount Home Entertainment, Atom Entertainment, publishing company Famous Music and music game developer Harmonix.
Celebrate Santa and Santa Phil Wenz see this as an important project and are working on it free of financial compensation. Promotional considerations, in-kind considerations and use of materials for future conventions and projects are agreed per industry standards.


Parade broadcast to include Legendary Santas
The live taping and syndicated broadcast of our Holly and Shamrock Parade will include historic photos and comments on Legendary Santas and famous parades that feature Santa. By participating in this unique parade, you not only become a part of the most unique St. Patrick’s Day Parade ever, you become part of a historical parade were Charles Howard, Jim Yellig and other noted Santas are part of the event. Santas from the past and Santas of today for the first time ever together in a parade.

WORKSHOPS AND DESCRIPTIONS 6 days 20 hours 53minutes

This is the information you will find in your souvenir program that has gone to the printer. I thought some of you would like to look at them and the way they are scheduled. I look at them and it is difficult for me to decide on any one workshop during any one session. We have had some great people come forward as well as some that we have searched out for. All to bring you what we feel is an excellent selection of workshops. Now this has changed a bit from previous postings of the schedules. It is like most things we have had some people with last minute canges and conflicts so we are giving you the best. Listen for the announcements once you are here for any other changes in the program.

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS
MARCH 16, 2009
SESSION # 1 10:30 TO NOON
DASHER
NATURALLY YOURS - CINDYLU THOMAS - This workshop will give you ideas and suggestions on how to get your own hair and beard white. Cindylu will go over different processes and products that a variety of hair types might need to use. She will her hair care secrets and only recommend the products she has used herself.
PRANCER
PROFESSIONAL SANTA MAKE-UP AND WHITE WIHOUT BLEACH –
THERESA GARRETT, LEON MCBRYDE - She will introduce a new process for beard whitening. We will examine the application process step by step. You will be able to watch as she demonstrate this method on one of our Santas attending the convention. Leon, will demonstrate quick and easy makeup techniques that will enhance the Santa character.
VIXEN
EARLY HISTORY OF SANTA CLAUS – JIM MORRISON - In this presentation we will explore the development of the American Santa throughout the 19th century. You will see documented proof from the New York City Historical Society in 1810 that Santa is St. Nicholas. You will see over 100 images depicting the development of the gift giver into the figure we all know today. Viewed in the 1800’s by the general population, these pictures are extremely rare. The image of Santa at that time was through the imagination, fueled by the poets and storytellers.
CUPID
WHO IS SANTA AMERICA ? JOHN SCHEUCH, ERNEST BERGER - You are! Learn about Santa-America. What does it mean to be a Santa-America Santa? Examples of visits and the meaning of these visits to families will be discussed. This is a session for new Santas and Mrs. Claus’ who are exploring the possibility of working with children in Hospice care, chronic pediatric care, or suffering post-traumatic stress. Santa-America is the largest volunteer Santa organization bringing Love, Hope, and Joy wrapped in a Hug 365 days per year.
DONDER - ROBA
ROBA President – MIKE JABLONSKI- Opening Statement and Report
ROBA Breed Registry – Registering your farm and your reindeer
BLITZEN
SANTA 101 - DAVE BARTLETT - This is a one man show, It's mid-October in Queens, New York and time for Joey Archobellino to teach his annual Santa Class to would be Santa's and Mrs. Clauses. The stories he tells as part of the class illustrate the hilarious highs and the heartbreaking lows of the anonymous big hearted guys how put on the hot red suit and the itchy beard to make Christmas wonderful for children and parents alike.
MANGER
WALKING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST. NICHOLAS – FR. DAVE
This course will look at the basic spirituality of Saint Nicholas, and how his faith expressed through love can act as guide in being Santa Claus. This will be expressed from a Christian / Catholic perspective. The purpose of this is not to attack any opposing faith perspectives or force one set of beliefs on anyone, but to reveal how these elements can make us better men, better Santas, and if it applies better Christians. A brief exploration of Saint Nicholas’ life will help set the foundation of our journey; followed by an examination of faith, love and holiness. Finally by taking these elements we will look at how they can be combined and applied to our own personal portrayal of Santa Claus.

SESSION # 2 1:30 TO 3:00

DASHER
STAGE PRESENCE – TREVOR THOMAS - This session will focus on acting and the basics and theology of stage communication as well as the art of stage presence. The session will also focus on character development, which is the evolution of the actor becoming another person or persona and making it believable.
PRANCER
TBA #1
VIXEN
SCHEDULING SANTA – DEBORAH ANN GRAEBELCIK - Each year as the calendar turns to the next month I know we are always one month closer to what now has become the busiest time in my life. “The Santa Schedule” usually begins from end of October through end of December. It can be very challenging to get much of anything done but making sure Santa is ready to go with all the information he needs to be the best he can be.
CUPID - SANTA AMERICA
SANTA AND THE WARRIOR TRANSISTION BATTALION - ERNEST BERGER, JOHN SCHEUCH - This session will discuss working with Wounded Warriors recently returned from Iraq or Afghanistan. These soldiers, who have sacrificed mightily, need our support. Learn how the Warrior Transition Battalion works, and how Santa-America’s mission can support the mission of the WTB. We will be looking for hospice trained, back grounded Santas for specific locations.
DONDER - ROBA
REINDEER ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION -MILAN SHIPKA –Research and planning University of Alaska at Fairbanks - PROCEDURES & SUCCESS - NORM MITCHELL Saskatchewan, Canada
2:45 UPDATES ON FEDERAL PROGRAMS - KYLE WILSON - Research for CWD, Tuberculosis & Brucellosis
3:15 REINDEER ON ST. LAWRENCE ISLAND – GREG FINSTAD University of Alaska at Fairbanks Open Discussions as time permits.
BLITZEN
SANTA 101 - DAVE BARTLETT - This is a one man show, It's mid-October in Queens, New York and time for Joey Archobellino to teach his annual Santa Class to would be Santa's and Mrs. Clauses. The stories he tells as part of the class illustrate the hilarious highs and the heartbreaking lows of the anonymous big hearted guys how put on the hot red suit and the itchy beard to make Christmas wonderful for children and parents alike.
MANGER
CHURCH SEASON AND ADVENT – DAVE DAVIS Told by Father Christmas. This story looks at David Milton as he takes his grandchildren home from Thanksgiving dinner. His grandson Zack mentions how he is excited about Christmas. Paw- Paw David explains he first needs to make it through Advent and the time of waiting for the gift of baby Jesus. This story looks at Advent and the promise of Hope at Christmas.

TUESDAY MARCH 17, 2009
SESSION # 3 10:00 TO 11:30 AM
DASHER
NATURALLY YOURS - CINDYLU THOMAS This workshop will give you ideas and suggestions on how to get your own hair and beard white. Cindylu will go over different processes and products that a variety of hair types might need to use. She will her hair care secrets and only recommend the products she has used herself.
PRANCER
SANTA AND THE DEAF - REBECCA BENNETT - This very important workshop will provide Santa’s and their supporters with the information and tools that will facilitate better Santa visits with deaf children and adults
VIXEN
MRS. CLAUS WARDROBE - GLORIA WENDLING – A workshop that will be covering history of Mrs. Claus, the roles she has played as well as the types of images a Mrs. Claus would want to portray. This workshop will also cover what is available to purchase, as well as the different types of outfits Mrs. Claus may want to make the pros and cons of different types of material and cost factors. She will also have a variety of her outfits on display.
CUPID - SANTA AMERICA
SANTA AND AUTISM - BRENDA SMITH, LEE GROSSMAN, Autism is a complex developmental disability affecting 1 in 150 children. Santa-America is forming a national alliance with the Autism Society of America. Find out how this alliance will benefit children and families dealing with autism. Additionally, get an overview of other special needs Santa visits.
DONDER -ROBA
8:00 AM – ROBA MEMBERSHIP BUSINESS MEETING & AUCTION
9:30 – REINDEER DIETS - KYLE WILSON – Interactive Workshop
How much protein is correct for your reindeer?
10:15 – VITAMIN E DEFICIENCIES - DR. MIKE CARY Deficiencies in a
Reindeer Diet Symptoms, Testing Procedures and Prevention
11:00 AM – “FAT COW” SYNDROME - GREG FINSTAD University of Alaska
at Fairbanks –
1:30 PM - REINDEER WORKSHOPS – KYLE WILSON Hands-On Tack Halters,
Harnessing, Lead Ropes, Animal Identification - Visible ID Tags and Alternatives
BLITZEN
20TH CENTURY HISTORY OF SANTA CLAUS - PHIL WENZ - A look back on the people, places and parades that helped shape the Santa Claus legend in the 20th century. Prolific Santa actors such as Charles W. Howard of Albion, New York, Raymond “Jim” Yellig of Santa Claus, Indiana, William Strothers of Richmond, Virginia and Robert George of Glendale, California will be featured. Also, Academy award winning actor Edmund Gwen and Coca-Cola artist Haddon Sundblom contributions will be reflected upon. Phil will also cover some of the historical places that Santa has called home. From New York, to Illinois, Indiana to Virginia and many places in between This workshop will also discuss the history of some of the largest ChristmasParades in the country.
MANGER
WALKING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST. NICHOLAS - FR. DAVE
A complete description on this workshop can be found under Session #1 Manger
This is a workshop that Father David Shoemaker has agreed to do for us three times.

WEDNESDAY MARCH 18, 2009
SESSION # 4 8:30 TO 10:00 AM
DASHER
PODCASTING – BERNADETTE DIMITROV - Discover how to become a ‘Podcaster’. An overview, history & future of podcasting. How to design your podcast in easy steps. Preparation and production, hardware and software, what you’ll need. Discover ways to monetize your podcast, as well as must know marketing tips!
PRANCER
PROMOTING AND MARKETING YOURSELF YEAR ROUND – TOM KLINER - Understanding who you are, what you are and where you want to be. How to make yourself be found. Learn ways to make yourself more visible without breaking the bank.
VIXEN
REINDEER 101 – KYLE WILSON – This workshop will consist of basic reindeer information that all Santa’s should know. Get answers to the all the questions that children ask about your reindeer.
CUPID - SANTA AMERICA
SANTA AND AUTISM ADVANCED - BRENDA SMITH, LEE GROSSMAN
This is an in depth session on how to create a positive Santa experience for children and families dealing with autism. Items covered include: choosing the location, alternative activities, making appointments, pre-visit information. There will be take-away items for this class, including local contacts for working with the Autism Society of America.
DONDER
SANTA’S NEW SUIT – VALERIE KING - If you ever wanted to make your Santa the suit he dreams of, this workshop is for you. I will help you take a readily available commercial pattern for a Santa costume and construct a unique, tailored, professional suit. You will learn how to get started with measurements, pattern and fabric selection, pattern alterations and adjustments, sequencing sewing tasks, tailoring tricks, and finishing touches. Sources for fabric, fur, notions and trims will be handed out.
BLITZEN
20TH CENTURY HISTORY OF SANTA CLAUS – PHIL WENZ - A look back on the people, places and parades that helped shape the Santa Claus legend in the 20th century. Prolific Santa actors such as Charles W. Howard of Albion, New York, Raymond “Jim” Yellig , William Strothers of Richmond, Virginia and Robert George of Glendale, California will be featured. Also, Academy award winning actor Edmund Gwen and Coca-Cola artist Haddon Sundblom contributions will be reflected upon. Phil will also cover some of the historical places that Santa has called home. From New York, to Illinois, to Virginia and many places in between This workshop will also discuss the history of some of the largest Christmas Parades in the country.
MANGER
WALKING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST. NICHOLAS – FR. DAVE – This
course will look at the basic spirituality of Saint Nicholas, and how his faith expressed through love can act as guide in being Santa Claus. This will be expressed from a Christian / Catholic perspective. The purpose of this is not to attack any opposing faith perspectives or force one set of beliefs on anyone, but to reveal how these elements can make us better men, better Santas, and if it applies better Christians. A brief exploration of Saint Nicholas’ life will help set the foundation of our journey; followed by an examination of faith, love and holiness. Finally by taking these elements we will look at how they can be combined and applied to our own personal
portrayal of Santa Claus.
SESSION # 5 10:30 TO NOON
DASHER
INTERNET MARKETING BUSTING THE MYTH - BONNIE DILLABOUGH Learn some simple and economical ways to get yourself on the internet and ways to improve your location and numbers of visits
PRANCER
MARKETING MRS. CLAUS – SANDY COHEN An interesting concept booking Mrs. Claus without Santa. Sandy will help you explore the opportunities for Mrs. Claus. As well as marketing, working with elves & other strangers, and record keeping.
VIXEN
REINDEER 101 – KYLE WILSON – This workshop will consist of basic reindeer information that all Santa’s should know. Get answers to the all the questions that children ask about your reindeer.

CUPID
WHO IS SANTA AMERICA ? JOHN SCHEUCH, ERNEST BERGER - You are! Learn about Santa-America. What does it mean to be a Santa-America Santa? Examples of visits and the meaning of these visits to families will be discussed. This is a session for new Santas and Mrs. Claus’ who are exploring the possibility of working with children in Hospice care, chronic pediatric care, or suffering post-traumatic stress. Santa-America is the largest volunteer Santa organization bringing Love, Hope, and Joy wrapped in a Hug 365 days per year

DONDER
TELL ME YOUR STORY – CLIFF SNIDER – A Santa’s guide to journaling. Cliff will introduce you to “The Artist’s Way”, and help guide you on the path to journaling your encounters. He will share with you some of the tools he has used, and how those tools helped him to write his book “Santa’s Journey.”

BLITZEN
TBA # 2

MANGER
I-POD IN THE MANGER – MURRAY MCCANDLESS Santas for Christ in a Post Christian World" Let's be realistic about this. During Christmas these days, fewer and fewer people are thinking about Who was really in the manger. If there even is a manger at the center of their conscious Creche, it's more likely to have something besides the Baby Jesus in it; a new car, the perfect Christmas party or the latest techno gadget that is sure to make their joy complete...at least until December 26th. Admittedly, while some may see us as representatives of a commercialized Christmas, we have the opportunity to represent Him who will not leave hopes dashed and dreams scattered around the floor like so much pretty wrapping paper and ribbons. Let's gather together to share our cumulative experiences in order to learn how each Santa can reflect not only the image of Saint Nicholas, but to reflect the image of Jesus Christ in our lives.

SESSION # 6 1:30 TO 3:00 PM

DASHER
TBA # 3
PRANCER
TBA # 4
VIXEN
MRS. CLAUS, BEAUTY, COMFORT, JOY - LISA WALZBERG A fresh and unique perspective in their view of the role and portrayal of Mrs. Claus. Ultimately, Mrs. Claus is a timeless role made for anyone who chooses it. What counts is what is in your heart – not how old you are.
CUPID - SANTA AMERICA
ROUND TABLE - JOHN SCHEUCH, ERNEST BERGER This will be a roundtable discussion with a panel of Santa-America volunteers. Hear the heartwarming and heart-wrenching stories that set this special calling apart form any other visit you will ever make. Learn some tips on how to make these visits and deal with the emotions that accompany these calls.
DONDER
THE MALL SANTA – AL JOHNSON The topics that will be covered are, types of malls, how to apply, advantages and disadvantages. Why pay varies how to improve your position, hours involved, possible living options. Ultimately understanding your contracts and agreements.
BLITZEN
ADDING A PUPPET TO YOUR SANTA – THERESA GARRETT - Nothing compares with the sparkle in a Childs eyes when his eyes meet those of Santa. However, some aren’t as glad to see him. Create a less overwhelming Santa. Our Class with teach you how to use a puppet and bring it to life. Learn where to find and how to create your own unique puppets.
MANGER
TBA # 5

3:30 pm CLOSING CEREMONY

6:00 PM DIXIE STAMPEDE

THURSDAY MARCH 19TH
7:30 LOAD UP ON COACHES FOR TRIP TO BILTMORE

This will give everyone a chance to review and try to get a better idea of what they will want to attend. All of our chairs and committees are putting the finishing up their chores before the kickoff. I just have to say that our excitement meter is off the charts.

PARADE INFORMATION POST # 1

Well the closer we get the more loose end we need to tie up so here is the information on the parade. As soon as I have everyone in their proper order I will be posting that here on the blog. Each group will be given a number. If you are not going to be with a particular group those people will be put together and given a number.

Official Gatlinburg Parade Guidelines

Throwing objects: The throwing of objects (including beads and candy) is strictly prohibited as per City Ordinances. You will be permitted to hand items out, but you will not be able to stop for photos or the like.

Proof of Insurance: All motorized units must provide “Proof of Insurance” including liability and have the City of Gatlinburg named as an additional insured.

Parade Route: The parade begins at Traffic Light 6 on Parkway
proceeds down Parkway, to Traffic Light 8 turn left on Airport Road (Historic Nature Trail. Once you have made the turn this is the official end of the parade. The Gatlinburg Convention Center will be open for all parade participants.

Parade Assembly: Floats and other rolling vehicles Marching Bands and Walking Units assemble at The Pi Beta Phi Elementary School, light number 6
on Cherokee Orchard Road. Parade Marshall's will be there to direct you. Rolling units will use the parking lot and walkers will start staging in the playground area.

Maintain Your Distance: You will need to maintain a distance of 40 feet between each group. So please pay attention to this measurement.

No stopping: Units are not allowed to stop along the parade route to perform. This will cause gaps in the parade. This rule is strictly enforced.

Disband: For your safety, your parade unit MUST follow marshal instructions at light #8. All rolling units and horse units are to proceed past the convention center to get to your destination.
Minimum age: YOU MUST BE AT LEAST 12 YEARS OF AGE TO WALK IN THE PARADE --
NO EXCEPTIONS. There is no minimum age for participants RIDING on floats and rolling units.
Dress Code: Dress should be geared toward our St. Nicholas meets St. Patrick theme. Look nice remember that this will be televised; please dress for the camera in festive colorful clothing.
Laws: Participation in the parade in no way releases anyone from observing all laws and regulations in Gatlinburg.

Horses: All horses MUST be diapered or MUST be accompanied by a pooper-scooper / manure attendant at ALL TIMES during your visit to Gatlinburg. There are absolutely no exceptions.

Maximum height: May not exceed 14 feet to clear overhead traffic lights and wires.

SUBJECT TO CHANGE: Please note that aspects of our General Information and Rules are subject to change. You will be notified of any and all changes.

NOT HONORING PARADE RULES MAY RESTRICT CURRENT AND FUTURE PARTICIPATION WITH CELEBRATE SANTA’S GATLINBURG PARADE.

HERE IS OUR OFFICIAL PARADE ROUTE IN MAP FORM THE GREEN LINE IS THE ROUTE

THE RED BOX IS THE ASSEMBLY AREA

THE BLUE BOX IS THE TELEVISED AREA YOU WILL NEED TO CONTINUE THROUGH THIS AREA JUST LIKE THE REST OF THE PARADE.

THE GOLD BOX IS THE CONVENTION CENTER.

All entries in the parade are complete. Each entry will be assigned a number if you are not walking with any particular group or on any particular float you will be inserted in the parade.
If you are not able to walk in the parade and need to be riding you need to let me know immediately, via e-mail santatimm@celebratesanta.com .

Santa Jac has the band float full of musicians and no one else will be able to get on that float.

We are going to be in need of Parade Marshalls along the route and at the beginning and end of the parade. probably a few more at the beginning. So if you do not want to be in the parade and want to assist please contact me as well.

VENDORS BOY DO WE HAVE THEM 9 DAYS

80 WOWS For everyone coming into Santa's Showcase we will have over 80 vendors selling their wares. That is as good as having a shopping mall right there at the convention. With the way we have the workshops set up we are allowing 30 minutes between them for you to be able to do some shopping. Myself I can hardly wait to see all the goodies that will be here at Celebrate Santa. Has do be something in Santa's Showcase for everyone.

Advertising Thru The Ages
Santa Advertising Display
416 Sleigh Bell Circle

Almost Christmas
Hand Carved Santa's
409 Sleigh Bell Circle

Autumn View Studio
Stained Glass & Wood Turnings
109-111 Christmas Tree Trail

Awesome Santa Belts
Santa Belt Products
418 Sleigh Bell Circle

BackYard Elves
Home Crafted Creations
706 Jingle Way

Billy's KettleCorn
Fresh Popped KettleCorn
Parkway Front Outside

Brenda Harris Tustian
Personalized Santa Paintings
401 Sleigh Bell Circle


Brotherhood Direct Descendants Santa
Santa Membership Information, Santa School
609 Frosty Trail

Casual Claus
Santa's Casual Wear and Accessories
804 Polar Bear Path

Celebrate Santa
Logo Pins, Hats, T-Shirts
103 Christmas Tree Trail


Cherry-Pit-Pac
Mother Natures Heating Pad and Cold Pac
704 Jingle Way

Christmas Eve Gift
Hand Crafted Old World Santa's
703-705 Jingle Way

Clay Babies
Whimsical Figurines & Ornaments
710-712 Jingle Way

Clayton Photography
cutom Santa Photos, Portfolios
309-311 Elfin Path

Couch For Claus
Portable Santa Chair
406 Sleigh Bell Circle

Creative Lodging Solutions
Santa Hotel Bookings
507 Snowy Pass

Crystal Collection Reindeer
Reindeer Antler Jewelry
412 Sleigh Bell Circle


Custom Woodworking by Benzel
Handmade Baskets & Woodworking
709-711 Jingle Way


Design By Denae
Handmade Sterling & Pure Silver Jewelry
301 Elfin Path

Dragons Fire Designs
Handcrafted Wire Jewelry
202 Kris Kringle Crossing

Eagle Property Management
Cabin Sales and Rentals
302 Elfin Path

Early American Enterprises
Small Log Cabins and Landscapes
403 Sleigh Bell Circle

Earth & Sky
Jewelry, Photography, ShakerMuseum
308-310-312 Elfin Path

Fantasy Factory
Custom Made Suits, Boots and Make-Up
415 Sleigh Bell Circle

Fashionably Wired
Handcrafted Jewelry & Accessories
701 Jingle Way

Fine Russian Crafts
Russian Santa's and Figurines
702 Jingle Way

Fraternal Order Real Bearded Santa's
Organization of Santa's Membership Information
503 Snowy Pass

Game Bibs, Inc
Santa's Red & White Striped Bib Overalls
509 Snowy Pass

Gene Lappin
Sandscapes, Moving Sand Pictures
602 Frosty Trail

Geresti Music
Grand Piano Entertainment by Bob Geresti
Display Area

Godolphin Photo
Santa Advertising Photos, Cards, Flyers, Portfolios
411-413 Sleigh Bell Circle

Hamilton Dry Goods
Toys, Santa Clothing
506 Snowy Pass

Hansen Crafts
Santa Clothing and Merchandise
610 Frosty Trail

Harlequin Costumes
Santa Costumes and Accessories
210-212 Kris Kringle Crossing

Here's Santa
Hand Crafted Belts, Boots, Buckles, Clothes
708 Jingle Way

Holiday Technologies
Ornaments and Christmas Lights Displays
603 Frosty Trail

Hopeful 3
Handcrafted, Personalized Book & Bible Covers
304 Elfin Path

InternationalUniversity of Santa Claus
Santa Tim's TravelingSchool for Santa's and Mrs Claus
802 Polar Bear Path

Kelly's WoodArt
Chainsaw Carving of Santa's, Bears, etc.
Parkway Front Outside

Kountry Quiltin
Seasonal Fabric and Wood Crafts
605 Frosty Trail

Laflin Magic
Magic Products
508 Snowy Pass

Lignite Carriage & Bell Co.
Custom Crafted Sleigh Bell Sets
410 Sleigh Bell Circle

Lucite By Louise
Decorative Reverse Hand Carvings
601 Frosty Trail

Magic & Novelty Outlet
Children's Gifts & Accessories
512 Snowy Pass

Magic & Sound Systems
Sound Systems, Magic Supplies, Balloon Sculptures
201 Kris Kringle Crossing

Magical Seasons
Santa Accessories and Magic
510 Snowy Pass

MistyMountain Soap
Handmade Soap & Lotion
105-107 Christmas Tree Trail

Mrs Claus Closet
Mrs Claus Handcrafted Bags, Shirts, Miscellaneous
607 Frosty Trail

Nora's One of A Kind
Gold Filled Sterling Silver Wired Jewelry
501 Snowy Pass

Penny McAllister
Original Paper Mache FolkArt
414 Sleigh Bell Circle

Pewter Minis
Pewter Figurines
502 Snowy Pass

Picture People
Custom Santa Photography
810-812 Polar Bear Path

Piney Woods Pottery
Custom Hand Crafted Pottery
205 Kris Kringle Crossing

Planet Christmas
Computerized Christmas Lights
306 Elfin Path

Red Suit Diaries
Volumes 1 & 2 by Ed Butchart
208 Kris Kringle Crossing

Reindeer Photos
Photos in Santa's Sleigh
Sleigh Bell Circle

Remarque Gallery
Santa Fine Art and Books
705-707 Jingle Way

Richard Kent Wood & Antler Carving
Hand Carved Santa's on Antlers & Wood
408 Sleigh Bell Circle

Robbie Hite Creations
Custom Made Santa Suits, Shirts and Vests
405-407 Sleigh Bell Circle

Rocky Hill Reindeer Co.
Live Reindeer Pen, Antlers & Sleighs
Sleigh Bell Circle

Sally Beauty Supply
Hair, Beard and Beauty Products
504 Snowy Pass

Santa-America.org
Santa Volunteers Visiting Sick Children 365 days a year.
808 Polar Bear Path

Santa & Co.
Santa Suits, Mrs Claus Dresses and Accessories
404 Sleigh Bell Circle

Santa Scents
Fragrances for Santa and Mrs Claus
208 Kris Kringle Crossing

Santa's Claus-Et
Gourmet Foods, Ornaments and Gifts
402 Sleigh Bell Circle

Santa's Threads
Custom Made Santa Suits
606 Frosty Trail

Santa's Wardrobe
Custom Santa Suits and Accessories
802 Polar Bear Path

Santa's Workshop
Hand Crafted Santa & Christmas Items
305 Elfin Path

Sepia Photo Promotions
Mall Photos With Santa
604 Frosty Trail

Snowflakes & Co
Hand Sewn Santa Suits
307 Elfin Path

St. Nicholas Exhibit
Pictorial History of an Icon
Sleigh & Artifacts Area

Sunshine & Co.
Custom Clothing and Accessories
417 Sleigh Bell Circle

Taste O' Country
Nuts, Smoothies, Dried Fruits
612 Frosty Trail

The Clan Claus Society
Santa Organization Membership Information
303 Elfin Path

The Fudgery
Fudge, Pretzels, Dried Apples
206 Kris Kringle Crossing

The Noerr Programs
Santa Mall Photography
209-211 Kris Kringle Crossing

The Yellow Barn
Handmade Santa's, Snowmen
505 Snowy Pass


Tim Callahan, Writer
Smoky Mountains Southern Fiction
204 Kris Kringle Crossing

Toys From Times Past
Wooden Toys and Puzzles
207 Kris Kringle Crossing

United Parcel Service
Ship your Purchases Home
608 Frosty Trail

Vicki Cornwell
Custom Adult & Children Aprons, Chef Coats & Hats
806 Polar Bear Path

Zera
Handcrafted Jewelry
611 Frosty Trail


Ya'll keep comin back mo reglar now as things is fixn to happen so fast it is even hard fer me to keep track of it all.

LADIES, MRS. CLAUS 12 DAYS TO GO

This one is just for the ladies and Mrs. Claus's We have made arrangements for the ladies to have their own get together at the Park Vista on Sunday evening. Right after the official meet and greet. We hope this will give you gals a chance to visit without having a bunch ( hairy old guys hanging around) What I should have said is Real Bearded Gentlemen Santa in the Red and White suit for the children of the World. (I hope that this correction will be good enough) We do understand that sometimes the ladies need to visit with just each other.

So now Cindylu, Trish, Deborah, Lisa, Valerie, and Dana and all of you ladies start passing the word around we want you to have a great time here.

We feel like we have a great line up of workshops that are geared more to Mrs. Claus and as I read earlier there are no cookie baking classes offered here. Santa's really don't need their wives to bake them cookies, what with all of the cookies we get on Christmas Eve.

The excitement just keeps growing here in Gatlinburg, everyone is looking forward to the Mrs. Claus's and Santas showing up. I can hardly walk out my door without being asked if I am going to be at Celebrate Santa in Gatlinburg.

Thars gunna bemor infurmatun comnup heer jus thunked it wer a good id ta put one fer all them purtty gals out thar.

I have not received very may comments on this blog but I felt this one needed to be posted right here. I have made an adjustment most of my personal comments are made in humor and not meant to hurt anyones feelings.
Anonymous said...
Excuse me, A bunch of hairy old guys hanging around.The only Reason I have a beard and long hair is for the purpose of being a Real Bearded Gentlemen Santa in the Red and White suit for the children of the World.I think you could have said a bunch of hairy old guys hanging around a bit better then you did in your blog post.We are after all Santas
...............................................................................................................................................
Cannot think when I've ever seen such consistently upbeat coverage of an event over this extended period of time.We are all jolly old elves and will be forever true to the premise only to see only the good in everyone and everything. Even when we have to pass out the occassional lump of coal it is meant to help someone become even more focused on making the best of everything and everyone in the future.Hopefully, you will share your triumphs and challenges with others to help them set up similar events in other venues around our country, continent, and as soon as the economy gets back in synch, anywhere in the world! You certainly appear to have done your homework and are to be applauded. I am sure all will go well and any new challenges can be quickly dealt with and you achieve all the success you hoped to.Santa BillLone Star SantasHouston, Texas

OMG! TWO WEEKS AWAY! AND TWO CYBER SLEIGHS

We have heard that many people have been packing and unpacking their suitcases already! If it helps – think positive – pack shorts! {LOL}
Imagine how all the people involved in Celebrate Santa are doing! Some of our chairs are getting anxiety attacks, while others are getting a tad testy. Everyone wants to make this the very best event you will EVER go to. They are doing incredible things for you! Thanks to Santa Phil Wenz, we have even MORE surprises planned for you. You just won’t believe all he has planned. Our heads spin every time he calls!

Talk about spinning that brings up the Cyber Sleighs. I can hardly wait to see these two in action. Did I say two, oh I guess the cat is out of the bag.


We have BOTH Cybersleighs coming to Celebrate Santa.!! Santas Dick Conkling and Dave Matson are bringing both sleighs. They will be on display in a special "Sleigh Display" area at Santa's Showcase. They will surly be a hit in the parade as well. Cyber Sleigh I is an award winning sleigh just check out the website. Some lucky Santa may be able to take this one home with him as Santa Dick does have it for sale. Cyber Sleigh II has some very unique features to it.
You will just have to see this one in action. This is going to be soooo cool! The Holly and Shamrock parade is taking shape very well. Remember to march in this one of a kind parade you must be registered with the convention.

And thanks to Santa Bob Elkin we still are getting vendors! Santa Bob has been able to get a UPS set up right there in Santa's Showcase so you won't have to worry about packing your purchases into your luggage for the flight home. We won’t have much time to post them, but we will have them in the Souvenir Program Book. He signed up three more in just the last two days.Speaking of the Program Book – we have dozens of business card ads! Lots of smart Santas out there – we thank you.

Okay, the menus are ordered, the tickets are paid for, the entertainment is booked and paid, the printing and set-up is ongoing, the program book is closing Friday, the rack cards (12,000) are now out and displayed, the parade decorations and cannon are ordered, the TV cable station is contracted and prepared, the Sunday reception is arranged, the Gala decorations are gathered and ready, the Santa Band has a practice room, the tableware décor is done and in hand, the vendor floor plan is done and approved, the press machine is in full swing, and…and…and… We are too excited for words to have you see and experience everything we are doing for Celebrate Santa.

One of the big attractions of Celebrate Santa will be the many exhibits that will be on display for our attendees. Our friend Jim Morris of the National Christmas Center is bringing nostalgic Christmas items that will rekindle your fondest childhood memories. Phil Wenz will display some very rare items from Charles Howard, Jim Yellig, Bill Strother and Santa’s Village among his vast collection.

Phil has been in contact with Carol Myers of the St.Nicholas Center in Holland, Michigan. Carol is sending to Gatlinburg the new educational exhibit that outlines the history of Bishop Nicholas to the development of the modern version of Santa Claus. Celebrate Santa will be the first viewing of this display. The St. Nicholas display will be in the Santa Showcase where the general public can enjoy it along with the many “Santa Sleighs” that so many of our attendees are bringing

Public Relations Chairman Michael Rielly has been busy working on the media center that will be in the Rudolph room at the convention center. All media, electronic or print must be approved by the media center. Please stop in and see Mike and his staff if you have any questions.

ROBA is preparing their reindeer barn on the main floor of the showcase and that is something you don’t want to miss. Want to volunteer and help us with this great event? Make sure you see Tom Zimecki. Tom has been so busy behind the scenes and will be interactive with all the chair people.

The communities’ of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge are preparing for a wonderful and festive convention. We would like to thank them, all our hotels, sponsors and most importantly YOU our Celebrate Santa attendees!

Are you ready for us? Because we are almost ready for you! A few (dozen) more details and we will throw open the doors to Celebrate Santa 2009 . Out of necessity, we have posted a legal disclaimer on the blog, and we are posting it in local newspapers. This will not effect anyone but a succinct few, so please do not read into anything that is not there. It is meant to protect you, us, and our trademarked applied property. We do not wish the media or anyone who has not registered for Celebrate Santa to gain access without our knowledge or permission. By accepting your registration you have already been accepted and unless something is done that we will not allow, you will enjoy everything we have planned.

I might have created some confusion in an earlier post. Our meet and greet will be held in the Tennessee Ballroom at the Park Vista Hotel. There was a Tennessee Ballroom at the Gatlinburg Convention Center but we have renamed it to The North Pole.

Ya'll keep comin back mo reglar now as things is fixn to happen so fast it is even hard fer me to keep track of it all.

GREAT NEWS AND MORE INFORMATION 18 DAYS TO GO

I have some great news for everyone. I visited the Park Vista Hotel and I just have to say they are really going all out for us. They informed me that they will continue the special for everyone registering with Celebrate Santa until they have no more rooms available. This will definitely be the after hours place to visit. If you want a view this is the place to be you can see everything from here. So you want to see if somebody is down in the lobby area you want to visit with just step out you room door and look down. You want to see the lights of the city just open up your balcony door, (you do have to be on the right side) or you want to just take in a view of the Smoky Mountains sane thing just step out onto your private balcony, and take in the fresh air.

When you stay at the Park Vista and are registered with Celebrate Santa you will also get a free continental breakfast.
The Park Vista will be the place where Celebrate Santa will have our meet and greet on Sunday evening from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm. This will be held in The Tennessee Ballroom A & B. Not only that I have found out that Sepia, Worldwide Photo will have a hospitality room set up in Garden View A&B right across the hall from 3:00pm to 5:00 pm

The Park Vista will have there lobby area set up for free wireless Internet as well. So those that want to can gather in the lobby with their laptops, and still be able to do some visiting. Now that will be interesting Santa's Internet Cafe.

Now if any of your groups want to have a gathering, the Park Vista have some meeting rooms available for rent, they run anywhere from $100 to $150. You will need to call Joyce Papierski at 800-227-5622 to reserve that room. She will be happy to assist you. Then if you want something extra catered in she will be able to tell you about that as well.

We knew that there would be some workshop changes, which is just the way it works out I think it has something to do with that fella named Murphy. The two changes have to deal with family things for these two presenters. The first one we are just going to have to scratch off the list is Insider Secrets for Santa Photos by Santa Patrick Cunningham.

The other one that had to bow out is Santa Jim George who was going to do the workshop on Santa and the Deaf. I don’t need to go into any details about why these fine gentlemen will not be able to make it but I would ask that we keep them and their families in our prayers.

I have felt all along that Santa and the deaf would be an excellent workshop, so I have been trying to find someone else who could present that workshop. I received an e-mail last week from a young lady who knows Santa Steve Zawisa from Virginia. He had encouraged ReBecca Bennett to contact us about doing a workshop for Santa’s working with deaf people, as she had helped him out with some basic sign language he thought the rest of us could benefit from the same.
Santa Steve was not aware of the workshop Celebrate Santa had planned nor did he know that Santa Jim was not going to be able to make it. Now Santa Jim was coming to us with an impressive list of credentials and being a Santa had first hand knowledge of what Santa’s would need to know. So replacing him was one of those things that I had been working on, especially having the right credentials. So when ReBecca came along, I thought it was a God send. She understands the need for Santa to be able to communicate with the deaf and has seen first hand the results of such encounters. If you would like more information check out ReBecca’s Portfolio it makes for some interesting reading. I have to say that at the very least she is excited to come and be able to help out Santas. We are happy to have her with us at Celebrate Santa

How about a restaurant review, being in Gatlinburg a couple evenings ago it was getting late so we decided to try out a local Italian restaurant. The name is Best Italian my first thought was, that is a lot of bragging. However by the time I had finished my salad I was in total agreement. It was by far the very best Italian food I have ever had cross my lips. To top it off I do not leave a restaurant with a doggie (people) bag, it is always finished by the time I leave. Something about having to clean my plate when I was young. Well I had to take home a container of leftovers as there was just so much. I had looked at a Calzone they had delivered to one table and it was the size of a football, that should have been the first clue. The rolls they serve with the meals are excellent plus. Then I find out that the family who owns Best Italian also has three other restaurants. They also have Howards Steaks and seafood which is just to the front of Best Italian. Then they have the Bear Creek Grill which has a variety of Steaks Seafood and Italian. Last but not least is McCutchans Brass Grill there is a variety of food there including panini sandwiches I even saw on the menu where they have a catfish sandwich mmmm then there is this fried banana split MMMMMMM. I am going to have to try to get to all of the England Family restaurants before Celebrate Santa starts. So when you get to town and are looking for someplace to eat I am sure one of Jim and Marilyn's restaurant will fit your needs. Just tell them that Santa sent you.
I hope all of you were able to get your business cards into Mary so they can be put in the Celebrate Santa Souvenir Program.

Ya'll keep comin back mo reglar now as things is fixn to happen so fast it is even hard fer me to keep track of it all.

YOU'D BETTER WATCH OUT SANTA. MRS. CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN.

Mrs. Claus just doesn’t make cookies! Dozens of Mrs. Santa Claus portrayers will be attending the upcoming Celebrate Santa Convention this March in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Unlike Santa conventions of the past, Celebrate Santa has numerous workshops especially for Santa’s better half.

A wife of Santa Claus was first mentioned in the pages of the Yale Literary Magazine in 1851, where a student author writes of the sudden appearance of Santa Claus and his wife at a Christmas party. A passing reference to Mrs. Santa Claus was made in an essay in Harper's Magazine in 1862 and again 1881. “Mrs. Santa Claus really owes her legend to author Katherine Lee Bates.” Stated Gloria Wendling, a Mrs. Claus from Illinois. “Mrs. Bates wrote about an active Mrs. Santa Claus in her 1889 poem ‘Goody Santa Claus on a Sleigh Ride.’ This poem portrayed Mr. Claus as an individual personality.”Mrs. Wendling will be conducting a workshop about Mrs. Claus Wardrobe that will include the early history of Mrs. Santa Claus along with suggestions proper costuming.

Part of Mrs. Claus’ role as Santa’s wife is to make sure that Santa’s beard looks its best. Cindylu Thomas of Alabama has been Mrs. Claus for many years and is also is an expert keeping the gentlemen with natural beards looking good. She will present a clinic called Naturally Yours Hair and Beard Care. “Keeping the Santa look for gentlemen that wear their beards year round is an ongoing process.” Commented Mrs. Thomas. “Santa must look his finest at all times and beard grooming is the first step.

Celebrate Santa opening ceremonies start on March 16th and the convention closes on March 18th. Mrs. Clauses and their Santas will participate in a parade, a huge gala dinner dance and numerous events. The convention was created by Joseph and Mary Moore of Tennessee.“In the past decade the presence of Mrs. Claus has been in the increase and in demand.” Said Mary Moore, co-coordinator of Celebrate Santa. “We are very excited about all the Mrs. Claus workshops, along with all activities the convention has to offer. It has become a true Santa family affair.”

Ya'll keep comin back mo reglar now as things is fixn to happen so fast it is even hard fer me to keep track of it all.

HOLLY AND SHAMROCK PARADE 21 DAYS TO GO

Big news Charter Communications will be taping the Holly and Shamrock Parade. The taping will include two commentators, one of them will be our very own Phil Wenz. Once it is taped and edited it will be broadcast many times throughout the southeastern United States on the Charter Community Channels. While all of that it going on it is sure to be picked up by a variety of news organizations and television affiliates who will be feeding it to there national headquarters. This is one event that is sure to be aired around the world.

Here is the important part for all of our parade participants. First of all make sure you have your group registered. Then we will need you to tell us about your group in abut 500 words, this is how Phil will get the information he will be telling the world about your group. Here is a key portion of that you will need to send it via e-mail to Amy Abel our Parade Chair, and Phil Wenz our Special Project Chairperson.

A lot of people have asked about getting DVDs. There will be a collector set of DVDs available in the Celebrate Santa Store. In this collection will be a DVD on each of the following the Holly and Shamrock Parade, the Opening Ceremonies, the Closing Ceremonies. There will be another one with various highlights around Celebrate Santa. Check it out that is not all that will be available at The Celebrate Santa Store we will have patches and pins of the highly recognized Celebrate Santa logo. Not to mention the hoodies hats and t-shirts that will be available with that prized logo on it. I am sure that any Santa or Mrs. Claus would be proud to have these in their collection of Santa goodies. Now that I have mentioned Collections these items will probably become collectors items as they are from the First Annual Celebrate Santa Convention.

Santa Bill McKee sure has not let any snow accumulate under his boots he has managed to get The Bristol Herald to put in an article about Celebrate Santa already. He has also worked up a fine illustration as well. Santa Bill has given us permission to use his illustration in our blog. You will have to see how many items in his illustration you will find here in Gatlinburg.

Photo Illustration by Bill McKee background courtesy Gatlinburg Department of Tourism Used with permission not for commercial use

Some information for those who are not staying in Gatlinburg. The Gatlinburg Trolley does not travel into Pigeon Forge. As well the Pigeon Forge Trolley does not travel into Gatlinburg. We have made arrangements to supplement travel to and from the hotels we have listed on our website, especially during peak travel times to and from the Gatlinburg Convention Center.

You might want to check out some of the oter news articles that mention Celebrate Santa. Like the one Courier News about Santa's having a get together in Northern Illinois. We will even be mentioned again by Bernadette Dimitrov as she interviews Phil Wenz this week and Santa Carlucci on March 1oth check the Family Yak for more information

Ya'll keep comin back mo reglar now as things is fixn to happen so fast it is even hard fer me to keep track of it all.

REMINDERS REMINDERS REMINDERS 25 DAYS

First reminder if you are flying in you will probably want to take a shuttle from Tyson McGhee Airport to your hotel in Gatlinburg. We have made arrangements with Rocky Top Tours to handle this. You will need to contact Linda at 877-315-8687. She will need to know your arrival date and time as well as your departure date and time so they can have the appropriate number of shuttles to service your needs.

I don't know for sure but if you have not made your reservations under the time line suggested and still need to why not try to say you are with Celebrate Santa and get the better rate, it might work.

If you want to put an advertisement in our Souvenir Program get in touch with me Santa Mack and I can help you out with that one. If you want to put your business card ad in, you need to get that off to Mary Moore very soon as that deadline is fast approaching.

Now I am sure there are some of you who are saying oh I I don't need to go to any of the extra night time shows. Well I just have to say once again they are going to be a lot of fun. Especially when we fill these theaters with Mrs. Claus and Santa's. The Dixie Stampede is a special show just for the Santa's. There are a whole lot of people who are not with Celebrate Santa who want to get there hands on these tickets. So you might want to get your order so you will not miss it.

Dana and I were in Gatlinburg today walking around selling ads for our Program. As we waled by some of the people we could here them say, "They are going to have a Santa Convention up here next month." We just chuckled after we went by them. Every business I went into knows about Celebrate Santa and they are all excited about it.

There are plenty of things to do for those of you who will be staying longer than the convention.
I ma finding that there are so many choices it is hard to list them all. I will try to list some more in the future.

Ya'll keep comin back mo reglar now as things is fixn to happen so fast it is even hard fer me to keep track of it all.

28 DAYS - FOUR WEEKS - THIS IS LAST DAY TO MAKE YOUR HOTEL RESERVATIONS

This is the last day that our hotels will hold the rooms they have put aside for Celebrate Santa. That means this is the last day you will be able to get the special pricing. So please if you have not made your reservations you need to get them made today. You do have to tell them you are with Celebrate Santa, for the rates.

WOW it is hard to believe that in just 4 weeks we will all be gathering for the first annual Celebrate Santa Convention. I can guarantee you there will never be another one like this. After all there really is only one first of anything. Our opening ceremony is something that has had a great deal of planning put into it, this is where you will find the setting for the entire convention.

Now we will be having our meet and greet session on Sunday evening the 15th at the Park Vista Hotel, this will be from 5:oo p.m. until 8:00 p.m. If you are staying at one of the other hotels that will not be a problem, as we have made arrangements with Rocky Top Tours to run special shuttles to all of our registered hotels the entire time so that way no one has to drive up to the Park Vista. These shuttles will just keep making the loop for arriving and leaving. There will be no problem figuring out which ones they are as they will have special markings on them.

Details that is what we are working on all of the major things have been taken care of, now we have all of our chairs and volunteers working on the details. All of the little things that we hope will make your trip to Celebrate Santa extra special. When I say they are working it is as if they have taken on an extra full time job.

We are still looking for a few people who might be interested in giving a hand with some of the easy things once you are here if you are interested please get in contact with Santa Mack.


Ya'll keep comin back mo reglar now as things is fixn to happen so fast it is even hard fer me to keep track of it all.

SLEIGHS 29 DAYS ADVERTISING

So you have a sleigh. Why not bring in to Celebrate Santa in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
If you have one that you would like to bring with you for the parade or for display contact us so we can have a spot for you. We will be setting up a portion of Santa’s Showcase for people to display their sleighs.

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However if your is in need like the one below you might want to leave it at home.

We just are not sure about these radio controlled units either

Advertising in our Souvenir Program. If you would like to have some advertising in our program, or you want to consider being a sponsor get in touch with us as we have some very new and exciting things to offer in regard to these items. On’t forget if you want to put your business card in the program we need to get that in soon, the deadline will be coming up before you know it.

Ya'll keep comin back mo reglar now as things is fixn to happen so fast it is even hard fer me to keep track of it all.

CHRISTMAS IS COMING EARLY TO GATLINBURG,TENNESSEE

Excitement builds as the first annual Celebrate Santa Convention and Expo approaches
Gatlinburg, – It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas and it is not even March yet! Christmas is coming early to Gatlinburg, Tennessee as Santas, Mrs. Clauses, elves, helpers and reindeer from around the world prepare for the jolliest event ever seen – Celebrate Santa 2009 !

Sleigh bells will be ringing as the Celebrate Santa Convention kicks off on March 16, 2009 at the W.L. Mills Auditorium and Convention Center with the opening ceremonies. The convention will continue until Wednesday March 18. For three days, workshops, exhibits, entertainment, vendors showcase and even a parade fill the agenda.
“Our workshops feature subjects that are important to Santas.” Said Tim Mack, Executive Director of Celebrate Santa. “We have everything from history to hair care and beyond. There are even eight workshops for Mrs. Clauses and three for reindeer handlers. We are very pleased to have the Reindeer Owners & Breeders Association joining us with their own convention.”
Special exhibits will be brought in from the National Christmas Center’s curator Jim Morrison. In addition, Santa memorabilia from the private collection of Santa Phillip L. Wenz will also be on display.
There will be entertainment offered by the local theatres of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. Shows include The Black Bear Jamboree, The Comedy Barn, and the Dixie Stampede Dinner Show. “A lot of the shows will be putting on their “Christmas Shows” during our convention.” Mary Moore, co- coordinator of Celebrate Santa stated. “The whole region is rolling out the red carpet for us!”
The local public is invited to attend the spectacular Santa Showcase on the main floor of the Gatlinburg Convention Center. The showcase runs for the course of the convention. Everything from Santa suits to a personalize Santa painting and Christmas related items will be featured. The Santa Showcase is open to the general public and admission is $3.00.
St. Nick meets St Patrick in one of the unique parades you will ever see. On March 17 the Holly and Shamrock Parade steps off in downtown Gatlinburg at 4:30PM. The parade will have floats, Santas, Mrs. Clauses and even Santa’s spectacular Cyber Sleigh !
“We look forward to all the excitement that Celebrate Santa will provide for our attendees and the regional communities.” Commented Joe Moore, co-coordinator. “If you have Christmas in your heart, then you will want to be at 'Santa Central' in beautiful Gatlinburg, Tennessee for the most fun and the best experience any Santa or Mrs. Claus could ever have!”
Celebrate Santa is an annual gathering and exposition for those who bring joy and happiness to children young and old through the portrayal of Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus. This annual event begins 2009 on the 70th anniversary of the very first official gathering of Santas in New York in 1939.
The three day event includes over 30 comprehensive workshops for those who wish to learn and improve upon their personification of Santa and Mrs. Claus. The in-depth educational sessions are conducted by seasoned Santa Claus professionals. Open during the event will be Santa’s Showcase – a unique exhibition open to the public featuring thousands of Christmas and Santa Claus related products and services.

31 DAYS - MEET BONNIE - SHUTTLE INFORMATION

Rocky Top Tours will be handling our transportation needs for Celebrate Santa.
For some of you they will be your first and last link to Gatlinburg. When you arrive at Knoxville’s Tyson McGhee Airport, You will find Rocky Top Tours, they will have a table set up to greet everyone arriving for Celebrate Santa. They will be operating the shuttle service to and from the airport.

You will need to contact Linda Hall with your itineraries, so she can schedule the shuttles with maximum efficiency and therefore at less cost to you. She can be reached at her toll free number 877-315-8687 or via e-mail rockytoptours@bellsouth.net you will want to make sure you contact her so your visit to Gatlinburg will be more enjoyable.

Once you get to Gatlinburg most things are within walking distance unless you are like me then there are plenty of Trolley stops all over town. The trolleys do stop at all of our listed hotels. To get you around and an all day pass on cost $2.00 no matter how many times you ride. The passes can be purchased when you pick up your registration package at your hotel.

We have made a change in your workshop lineup Santa Tom Pellitieri will not be doing a computer workshop. What we have in his place is something very special for you along the same lines. No we did not just push Tom out when I approached him with this possible change he thought it was a good idea.

Some of you have heard of Bernadette Dimitrov who does the Mrs. Claus pod cast on Yaktivate. Well she introduced us to her mentor and the founder of Yaktivate, Bonnie Dillabough, just one small bundle of energy, with a dynamite presentation for all. After a conference call with Bonnie, Bernadette, Joe, and myself I have to admit that Joe and I were exhausted. Bonnie just has so much information to share and has agreed to come to Celebrate Santa to share some of that information. Her track record in internet marketing will amaze you.

Bonnie will be doing a workshop tentatively titled “Busting the Myth” making marketing on the internet easy. She will have handouts with her workshop so you will be able to find the places that she will discuss.

Here is her Bio

Bonnie Dillabough put her first website up on the internet in February of 1996. Within two weeks she got her first email from China. At that point she was hooked. She changed her business model from videography to internet marketer and proceeded to make every mistake it was possible to make marketing on the internet.
Bonnie learned quickly from those mistakes and has been making her living on the internet ever since. Her home business success made her wonder about the millions of people trying to make a profitable business on the internet who were not making any money. She realized that people come on to the internet with big dreams of succeeding with a home-based business, but are preyed upon by scammers, spammers and so-called "gurus," often times losing huge sums of money and ultimately deciding that "the internet doesn't work."
She was invited to become an internet marketing instructor working with Daren Falter in the Robert Allen Enlightened Wealth Institute and taught there for about 4 years. In the meantime, she started giving free bonus classes to her students to highlight new tools and resources for marketing on the internet that she could not fit into her syllabus on the Robert Allen training calls.
Thus was born "The Cookie Cutter Group," a weekly training conference call dedicated to all things pertaining to creating a successful internet marketing business that can be done from a home-based office. For the past 3 years the group has continued to meet every Saturday morning at 10 am Pacific Time.
Out of a research project she was doing for her students, a new idea was born that eventually became Yaktivate.com, an internet media marketing company which now owns one of the largest Podcast Networks in the world. Yaktivate.com, as of July of 2008 gets approx 3.5 million hits from listeners in over 100 countries worldwide.
The purpose of the Yaktivate.com network is to help netrepreneurs get their message out to the people who WANT to hear it and allows them to create warm, solid, profitable relationships with their listeners.
Bonnie is the mother of 6 children with 13 grandchildren and has been married to her sweetheart, George for over 35 years. She lives and works in Olympia, WA and loves to read Sci-fi/Fantasy, crochet and play with her grandchildren at every opportunity.

To top that all off she loves Santa and is excited to be here with all of us.

Ya'll keep comin back mo reglar now as things is fixn to happen so fast it is even hard fer me to keep track of it all.

ENTERTAINMENT 32 DAYS TO GO

Only 32 days to go we are doing great on our end getting everything set up for all of you, who will be coming to this historical event. I thought it would be a good idea to make sure everyone knows about the extras that we have planned for. You just need to get your tickets for them.

Have we got the entertainment lined up for everyone who is coming. We will have entertainment during at least two of the Lunch sessions. The opening and closing cerremonies will be very informative and entertaining. Not to mention the Holly and Shamrock Gala, it will be a Grande Ball with everyone in their finest, including a very special dinner. Those are all included included in your registration.

On Monday evening March 16th we have made arrangements with the Black Bear Jamboree and The Comedy Barn. You will find their food to be excellent and the entertainment over the top. They have reserved the entire Theater for Celebrate Santa and there will be a little something extra in the show just for us. This is a great bargain you will get TWO different shows and Dinner for only $55.00. That is just a bit more than the cost of one show.

On Wednesday night March 18th we have again been able to get some EXREMELY SPECIAL pricing for dinner and show, at Dolly Parton'sDixie Stampede and once again it s being primarily reserved for Celebrate Santa, just check out this website for Dolly Partons Dixe Stampede and see how excited they are to have us there. They have promised us a very special show one that you will not want to miss for only $28.25.

The excursion to The Biltmore on Thursday after the convention promisesto be a unique experience as well. Everyone will get into coaches for the ride over, we will get to tour America's Largest Home, then sit down to another special Gourmet meal. All of that and transportation for only $65.00.

Now some of you who are coming have not signed up for these extra events and I would sure hate to see you having regrets later. For those of you who are still needing to register make sure you don't miss out on these extras as well.

If you have already registered and decided that you want to attend any of the extra outings you can just go back to the registration on our main web site and order your tickets there.

We want to welcome The Lone Star Santa's to our blog site. They have 33 Santa's in their group and have told us they would have quite a contingency from the Lone Star State.

33 DAYS COME CELEBRATE THE WONDER OF IT ALL

A big reminder get your full color business card in the Souvenir Program for only $35.00. By ding that it will be easier for other to be able to remember which of the 78 James or Jim, 65 Roberts or Bob, 63 Davids or Dave, 57 William or Bill, 50 Richard, 40 Thomas or Tom, 32 Michael, 20 Pauls, 12 Mike, or 10 Timothy's you might be. You will be able to tell your friend oh I am on page 14 in the Souvenir program or page 25, This is still a lot less expensive than having 1,000 full color business cards printed out. Then you think you have enough of them on you and run out just at the wrong time during Celebrate Santa. So it makes it easier for you to just have them printed in the program.

What was written below in green was not done for for this blog. It was put together as a rough draft for the media people. After reading through it though I felt the warmth and sincerity once again. This is really what Celebrate Santa is going to be about. If you still have not made up your mind it is time to get off the fence. DO NOT MISS THIS HISTORICAL EVENT, you don't want to have that regret going through your head in the future. This is the inaugural, there is only one first and you can be a part of it. We still have some room but it is limited, so get registered before it is too late.

I am not an accountant, but you might check with your accountant to see if this trip would be tax deductable for you as it is a continuing education tyoe of convention as well as the networking you will be able to do.

Welcome to the greatest gathering of amateur and professional Santa Clauses and their Mrs. Claus, elves, reindeer owners, and even a few leprechauns and St. Patrick, too! Celebrate Santa is just what the name implies – a celebration of the loving gift giver and all those who portray him and his many helpers.

While the legend of Santa Claus has changed and evolved over the centuries, we have never stopped believing in St. Nicholas and his wonderful deeds. We have changed his clothes, appearance, even his name, but through it all the Jolly Old Elf has brought hope and smiles to billions of children and adults over countless generations.

We are here to celebrate St. Nicholas in all his forms and fashions. We are here to show the world that whether tall or short, thin or not, Santa Claus exists in all our hearts and minds, and one need only look deeply into our eyes to see the child within us return.

We are also here to learn to be better at what we do, and to give to others who have made us feel so wonderful through the ages. We are here to learn our roots and traditions and to pay homage to the wonderful men (and women) who have gone before us and left a legacy in their wake for us to follow. Men like Jim Yellig, Charles Howard and so many others who brought countless smiles and feelings of love to the masses.

Celebrate Santa is a gathering of all those who seriously take bringing this love and glad tiding to people. It is also about learning to be better Christians, or just better people, and caring for others. It is about learning how to touch a child with emotional or physical concerns. It is about learning how to answer the difficult questions and problems. It is about reaching out to those who find safety in little else. And it is about celebrating the job we do and to do it in the best possible way.

Celebrate Santa is also about sharing those successes with each other. The heartwarming stories as well as the heart-wrenching ones, the amusing tales, the downright hilarious comments, and the hugs and the smiles – they all get told. From the wonderful parades down to the single hospice visits, no tale is left unfurled. We learn and become from these, too.

Celebrate Santa with us, learn what makes us tick, find out what makes all the grueling hours, crying children, commercialism and short tempers worth it to us. Discover why we are not only in malls, but also at private homes, corporate parties, hospital rooms, charitable functions, and church gatherings.

Discover that whether real or artificially bearded, man or woman, working at a large mall or a small nursing home, the ministry inside us will seek out a smile and bring hope and a promise to every person we touch.

Celebrate Santa.

So now I have done it I used someone else's writing, here on the blog, it just sounded so good.

I have a bit of heads up on the Santa America workshops, The first two will be an introduction to Santa America for those of you who would like to know more about what this excellent non profit organization is about. They will have two workshops on Working with Autistic Children, as well as two on visiting families of wounded veterans. There will be more detail coming in later. Santa America would like to have some new Santa's to help with their missions so check out their website Santa-America. I have to tell you this organization is not for the faint of heart. It will require a great deal more of dedication than just being Santa at Christmas time. I encourage everyone to look into Santa America and see if it is something that you would enjoy being apart of.


Ya'll keep comin back mo reglar now as things is fixn to happen so fast it is even hard fer me to keep track of it all.

35 DAYS TWO SPECIAL INTRODUCTIONS

Celebrate Santa has added a couple people to our list of Chairs. Santa Joe Moore approached Phil Wenz with an idea and after talking to him asked if he would like to be involved. After hearing more about Michael Rielly from Phil Joe had no choice but to ask Phil to check with Michael and see if he would be interested in coming on board, and he agreed. We have both of the fine men working so hard for Celebrate Santa that it is hard to believe they have time for the other things in their lives. They are both terrific assets to Celebrate Santa. For most of you they really need no introduction, we just felt like you should know a little about them.

Santa Phil Wenz is now our Special Projects Chair. Phil has been working on several special projects for Celebrate Santa. Not to mention the work that he has done on the Santa Oath project.

Santa Michael Rielly is now our Media Chair. Michael has stepped into a very big job and he already has a very good handle on it all. He is attracting and talking to new media people all the time.

Phillip L. Wenz

If ever there was a man born to be Santa Claus, it is Phillip L. Wenz.
At the age of four years old he donned his first Santa outfit. By the time he was fourteen he was in his first parade, and by the ripe old age of twenty-four, he became the year round Santa Claus for the iconic Santa's Village in Dundee, Illinois. An association he has now had for more than twenty years.

Mr. Wenz has appeared in nationally televised parades, commercials, and at some of the nation's largest corporate and civic holiday events. He is, bar none, one of the most experienced Santas in America and probably the world. Wenz's body of work spans five decades, truly making him The Legendary Santa Claus from Santa's Village. A title well deserved.

Michael J. Rielly

Mr. Rielly is a third generation Santa Claus. His grandfather James D.
Rielly, began his Santa Claus career in 1927 and was recognized in the US Congressional Record as /“A Truly Remarkable Santa Claus from Rhode Island”/. After the passing of James D. Rielly in 1991, Michael Rielly took on the role as Santa Claus. In his grandfather’s honor, Rielly takes no money for his appearances and appears as Santa Claus for many of the same charitable organizations and hospitals his grandfather did.

When not appearing as Santa Claus, Mr. Rielly works in sales and marketing with over 20 years experience in Internet and technology related companies where he has served in various roles; founder, board member, and business development.

Mr. Rielly is also the founder of ClausNET.com, the world's premier Santa Claus social network and resource for Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, and Elves for the purposes of sharing stories, advice, news, and information.

Celebrate Santa has been able to put together a first class crew to put this convention together and we have to tell you it has become a full time effort for our chairs. Our sincerest gratitude goes out to all of them and the volunteers they have helping as well.

I have been asked to recommend which workshops would a new Santa want to attend. It took me quite awhile to come up with the answer for him, and I am not sure I was able to point him in just the right direction. Celebrate Santa has to have put together so many excellent workshops and presenters it can be difficult to choose which ones are the best for any one individual. It is our hope that whichever workshops you attend that you will feel like we do. All of the workshops plus some very special entertainment as well.

Ya'll keep comin back mo reglar now as things is fixn to happen so fast it is even hard fer me to keep track of it all.

36 DAYS, HOTELS, TRIVIA

VERY IMPORTANT THE HOTELS IN GATLINBURG WILL ONLY HOLD THE RATES WE HAVE IN PLACE FOR 1 MORE WEEK. TELL THEM YOU ARE WITH CELEBRATE SANTA AND YOU WILL BE ABLE TO GET IN ON SOME OF THE SPECIAL AMENITIES AS WELL AS PRICING.

A little bit of Trivia today. From time to time I get the chance to check into some of the Santa Message Boards that are out there. The other day I found a discussion on the variety or lack of in our first names. So being the curious type I had to check with the guy who seems to have most of that information on a few others. Here is what I was able to get out of the discussion as well as the ones I asked him about. I had an oversight when I spoke to him and forgot to ask him about Joe or Joseph. I am sure I will be getting that information soon
SANTA NAMES
78 James or Jim
65 Roberts or Bob
63 Davids or Dave
57 William or Bill
50 Richard
40 Thomas or Tom
32 Michael
20 Pauls
12 Mike
10 Timothy.
2 Barry
1 each of the following Jac, Zeke, Zona, Kona, Clem
Interesting though how few of the following names came up in the Santa World.
3 Nick
2 Nicholas
2 Christopher
2 Kris
1 Chris
Now this is by no means a complete picture but it would be interesting to know the entire spectrum some day.

Now let me introduce you to three more workshops and presenters.

CINDYLU THOMAS
NATURALLY YOURS

This workshop will give you ideas and suggestions on how to get your own hair and beard white. Cindylu will go over different processes and products that a variety of hair types might need to use. She will reveal her hair care secrets and only recommend the products she has used herself.

Wife to Santa Charlie 38 years, mother of 2, Grandmother to 3 girls.
Current Adoptive mother to one dog, Rocky.
Spent most of my life in Alabama but have traveled to many places over the years.

I entered the workforce at the tender age of 15 working as an usherette in our local theatre on week-ends to earn some money of my own. Consequently, I was able to see all the movies free as a perk and fell in love with the beautiful movie stars. I watched their every move and noticed every single feature about the way they looked and especially the hairdos. That prompted me to enter beauty school, graduate and start what I hoped to be a long and prosperous career in the Beauty business. Unfortunately it was not to be as my physical ability to work the long hours on my feet caused a lot of medical problems to arise.
Having to change I went into the Insurance field. It was through my work in Insurance, that I learned how to deal with the public and took several public speaking courses. I took several other college courses along the way and all the while kept up with the latest in the ‘Beauty Business’ as well.

After retiring from the insurance industry, Charlie and I decided to enter into the wonderful world of “Santa” in 2002 and in 2003 formed our small business under the name of BamaSanta.

I discovered that many Santas that needed the benefit of my expertise in the field of Beauty. I also discovered there were two glaring myths that needed to be dispelled;
1. Santa has to suffer to get his beard and hair “Santa White”
2. The only good products are the expensive ones.

Even though I am no longer a practicing beautician to the public, I have kept up with all the wonderful new products, how to use them properly and find good ones. I do not recommend any product that I haven’t used myself or that I haven’t used on Santa Charlie. I’m only too happy to share this information with all who are interested and willing to give it a try.

Cindylu has developed such a following that she would be an important addition to Celebrate Santa.

CLIFF SNIDER
JOURNALING

Cliff will discuss the importance of keeping a journal, as well as various techniques. This has been a very important tool in his success; it can become very useful for you as a Santa or Mrs. Claus in the future.
Cliff’s first appearance as Santa Claus was in 1962, at 15 years old, and has been a Santa ever since. He became a naturally-bearded, professional Santa in 1995. He has developed an extensive custom-made wardrobe of unique Santa suits that offer a change from the typical Santa “look.”

His professional Santa education began at the Charles W. Howard Santa School in Midland, MI in 1995. I returned as an alumnus in 1996, 1999 and 2005. He also earned a “Bachelor of Santa Claus” degree from the International University of Santa Claus in 2003. In 2004 he received his “Master of Santa Claus” degree and returned as an alumnus in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

In 2008 he published his book “Santa’s Journey” Sharing Christmas Year Round. He was also featured in Guideposts magazine December 2008 issue.

Cliff received a certificate for attending “Story Telling School” at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC in 2004. He incorporates story telling into his portrayal of Santa Claus.
He has become popular with several well known artists and has posed for dozens of paintings.

You are sure to enjoy Cliffs easy going very Santa like manner, one thing for sure his ego sure doesn't come out.

AL JOHNSON
THE MALL SANTA
The topics that al will cover are, Types of malls, How to apply, Advantages, Disadvantages, Why pay varies, How to improve your position, Hours involved, Possible living options, and Understanding your Contracts and agreements.

Santa Al Johnson is the stereotypical Santa Claus. When you dream of a friendly, jolly bearded man smiling while he places gifts under your Christmas tree. When Al donned a Santa suit to dazzle his young grandchildren, he didn’t need to rent the beard. He used the one that had been on his face since about 1970. He enjoyed the fun he brought his grandchildren so much that he kept the suit and started appearing here and there for various groups and businesses as St. Nick. Then a chance came to be the Santa at The Promenade mall in Temecula, California in 2000. After two great years there an offer was presented to him to start as Santa at the new Victoria Gardens, a large upscale mall in Rancho Cucamonga, California. He’s been requested back every year since. He has presented lectures on the history of Santa Claus and his personal experiences as Santa to a local Historical Society. Al plans to continue being a mall Santa as long as possible, and he’d also like to help others become great mall Santas by teaching them what he’s learned.

Al has been married for 34 years to Barbara. During the winter months they live in Yuma, AZ, and then spend their summers in Goffstown, NH.

We felt that Al has some very important things to go over in regards to being a Mall Santa, whether you are a veteran or just thinking about working in the mall enviroment.

Ya'll keep comin back mo reglar now as things is fixn to happen so fast it is even hard fer me to keep track of it all.

38 DAYS HOTEL REGISTRATION

Only 38 days until the convention kicks off with our meet and greet at the Park Vista. There are only 10 days to get your Hotel reservations made in order to get the specials that come with Celebrate Santa registration. They will go to their regular rates after February 15th. Now keep in mind all you need to do is make your reservations, they do not charge you for them until you arrive.

This morning I received an e-mail about how we are in the Inside Gatlinburg and Inside Pigeon Forge Internet magazines. It sure looks good and you will probably want to check it out for interesting places to go and things to do.

Santa Tom Kliner probably does not need much of an introduction to most of you. Our working title for his workshop Santa Year Round, did not effectively describe his workshop in a few words.

It probably should have been Marketing Santa. He has been very successful in how he has marketed himself, and that is the year round part of what we were trying to get at. He has also been very helpful in getting other Santa's into marketing themselves with SATG, FIRBS, as well as all the wreaths that are in the SATG family. On March 17th Santa Tom will be changing his persona for the parade as he will be one of our Grand Marshall's, St. Patrick.

Santa Tom hales from Kelowna, BC Canada and has been portraying Santa since 2001. Often with his Wife as Mrs. Claus and their two daughters. One as The Chief of Operations Elf and the other as the getaway driver. Since, he has produced my own websites santatom.com, sleighrider.com and sleighridermedia.com, founded Santas Across the Globe it’s Wreaths and the Fraternity of International Real Bearded Santas. A part time actor, model, videographer and photographer. Sometimes he is in front of the camera and sometimes he is behind it.
In 2006 his first professionally produced Christmas Stories with Santa on DVD were released.
He loves to learn about Santa and share what he knows. There are two books in the works involving his life as Santa and how to care for your hair and get it white.
There is also a set of stories in progress for the next Story time DVD.
MARKETING SANTA

This workshop will cover the various ways that Santa can market himself, the true definition of www. As well as some of his own tricks and tips.

Santa Jim sent me the information on himself and his workshop included in that were several photos. He has beaten everybody and already has his photo with Louise Mandrell. I a going to put in his photo as Saint Nicholas as he will be one of our Grand Marshall's this year. Santa Jim will be bringing a large number of artifacts from The National Christmas Center for all of us to look at.

SANTA JIM MORRISON

James Morrison (Santa Jr.) is a historian and preservationist of Christmas. Christmas was the most wonderful time of year for him as a child. He went to bed with an empty stocking and on Christmas morning woke up to the decorated tree, the toy train village and stacks of presents; Santa had been there! The Christmas season, a month of traditions and wonderment for a small child, is now cherished memories.
With the development of the malls and television, Christmas changed. Families spread apart and adulthood became reality. As a young adult, Morrison started collecting the memories of his childhood Christmas.
In high school he would put on a Santa suit and visit the little ones in Sunday School and then neighborhood children on Christmas Eve. He even started a little business setting up Christmas gardens and toy trains around the neighbors’ trees.
After serving time in the Army building military exhibits, and a later career restoring Victorian homes, he placed a Christmas exhibit in the Smithsonian Institution in the late 1970’s. Nothing had been shown there prior to that period about antique Christmas.
During the 1980’s, he set up Christmas displays at the Gotham Book Mart in New York City. They became a Christmas tradition with many New Yorkers, appearing on the New York Times list of the “Ten Best Things to Do in New York City”.
His home appeared in Early American Life magazine in 1986, in a story about the ultimate Christmas collector. The response from the magazine, and the experience at the Gotham Book Mart, rekindled an old memory of a Christmas museum.
Jim joined a group of antique Christmas collectors in 1987. “The Golden Glow of Christmas Past” has over 1300 members - people who love Christmas and devote many hours to collecting and preserving Christmas past. He has organized five of the 28 annual club conventions, last year with 700 members attending the week-long event.
Again, watching the reaction of people and their memories led to the establishment of the National Christmas Center and Museum. Lancaster County, Pennsylvania was selected as the location because so many events happened there that helped form the American Christmas. The Center opened in 1998 to rave reviews. It has become a family tradition for many families, not only at Christmas but all year long.
Morrison feels he is so lucky to be Santa all year long to the many children and adults he visits with. He continues to be the historian and curator of National Christmas Center since its inception.

EARLY HISTORY OF SANTA CLAUS

Some misinformed people say there is no Santa Claus, but we all know better. In this presentation we will explore the development of the American Santa throughout the 19th century.
You will see documented proof from the New York City Historical Society in 1810 that Santa is St. Nicholas. Through the archives of the National Christmas Center and Museum in Paradise, PA, you will see over 100 images depicting the development of the gift giver into the figure we all know today.
Viewed in the 1800’s by the general population, these pictures are extremely rare. The image of Santa at that time was through the imagination, fueled by the poets and storytellers. Images appeared in local publications, however it wasn’t until the late 1800’s and early 1900’s that trade cards, postcards and story books were available to children so they could see what this figure, who arrived once a year in the middle of the night, looked like.We will also learn about how the German Christkindl (Christ Child) was replaced by Kris Kringle; how Peltznichol (“St. Nicholas in fur”) became the Pennsylvania Belschnickle, where Santa came from, and then the development of his means of transportation

39 DAYS LOTS OF INFORMATION

Some good news and some not so good news. The not so good first our Sunday evening event at Ober Gatlinburg had to be cancelled due to circumstances beyond our control.
The good news is that we will be having our meet and greet at the Park Vista Hotel. Still an easy place to find, it is the big round building on the hill. We will be having light snacks, coffee, tea, and soft drinks there. This will be where those who are not staying in any of our main hotels can pick up their registration packages. For instance if you are staying in a campground, time share.

A few reminders.

Santa Jac is still looking for those that want in the Santa Band.

If you want to be in the parade as agroup we need to know contact Amy our Parade Chair.

We are into late Registration.

If you registered early ad did not get signed up for the Biltmore excursion it is not too late

I want to apologize for not getting my post out yesterday. My day started out on the computer at 7:30 a.m. and I hung up from my last telephone call around 9:30. So I called it a night when I crawled into bed I realized I had not made a post here.

Now let me introduce you to a couple more presenters and their workshops.
The first one is Sandy Cohen (aka Lola the Clown, Sandy Claus, and Lola the Lucky Leprechaun. Just taking to her on the telephone can get you excited about what she is going to offer in her presentation. So I believe that anyone attending her workshop will surely leave there charged up.

“Marketing the Mrs.”
(Previously called Booking Mrs. Claus)
· Introduction - Performing as Mrs. Claus.
· Where is Santa & other interesting questions why?
· Developing your character.
· Opportunities to explore.
· Skills? What skills?
· Putting it all together as a package.
· Marketing, marketing, marketing!
· Places to go & Things to do!
· Working with elves & other strangers
· Keeping records
Keeping the spirit! Performing all year

THE MANY FACES OF SANDY COHEN
Sandy Cohen is married to Steve, Mom to daughter Jenny & Christy & cat Mini! Her Clowning and entertaining career started in Germany, volunteering for Special Olympics & Army Youth Services. Her Clown volunteering continued through the years until she moved to Stafford, Virginia in 2002.

After working many years in sales and as a Childcare Teacher, an opportunity presented itself to perform at her Daycare in Clown. Sandy started getting parents’ request to perform at students’ birthdays and at Daycare Christmas Parties. She took Clown classes in Stafford and in 2003 went into business with the name Lola the Clown. That same year Mrs. Sandy Claus was developed for her Daycare and Restaurant clients.

Sandy performs Silly Magic, creates twisted balloon art, and face paints 3-5 days a week in homes, restaurants, daycares, parks, corporate and community events through out Northern Virginia. She entertains as a variety of costumed characters and has learned many different skills along the way.

Sandy has received awards for her creative balloons; she is a member of Clowns of America, International World Clown Association and the Better Business Bureau.

Now Santa Patrick has some great credentials that follow him around. He has come up with at least two new thoughts that could benefit any Santa. I am sure that those who attend this workshop will walk away with some very good information.

"INSIDER SECRETS FOR SANTA PHOTOS"
Most Santa’s and most Photography Enterprises do fairly well, income-wise. Yet they are missing the TWO simplest and very best ways to get the “perfect” holiday photo with Santa.
Knowing these TWO practical, simple-to-learn secrets have the additional benefit of dramatically increasing revenue on the Santa Set or in your own Santa business. When parents and grandparents are delighted by a truly great photo, they naturally tend to buy more photos and are easily encouraged to purchase the more expensive photo packages and frames.

A LITTLE INFORMATION ABOUT SANTA PATRICK
Santa Patrick Cunningham is an entertaining and fun professional speaker, having presented over 3,500 speeches, workshops & trainings in his lifetime. In August, 2008, Santa Patrick was a featured motivational speaker at SendOutCards.com’s National Convention, Send Out To Give, with over 3,500 attendees. Santa Claus for churches, non-profits and charities since 1980, a major national photography company hired him as a professional real bearded Santa in 2006. Santa Patrick dramatically increased revenues his first year, even though the Santa Set was in an extremely undesirable location at the mall. By 2007 the mall had been won-over and Santa was moved to center court. His Santa Set was one of the Top 3 Santa Sets nationally, achieving record setting marks in both revenue and goals.

Santa Patrick has been featured on ABC, NBC, CBS & FOX News as well as major print media including The Arizona Daily Star, The Tucson Citizen, Bear Essential News for Kids and The Crusader Newsmagazine.

His civic/non profit appearances include the Ronald McDonald House, Boys and Girls Clubs, and numerous hospital, hospice and church visits.

Santa Patrick believes that successful Santa businesses are all about “relational marketing.” Your success depends on the retention and loyalty of current clients and the referrals they give you. “Word of mouth” is key. Santa Patrick is an expert creating word-of-mouth referrals and positive “buzz” around the community—that’s why people came in droves to see him at his wildly popular Santa’s Cottage, which he launched in the 2008 holiday season.

He retains two top consultants to keep abreast of all cutting edge developments in the world of children—his 3-year-old daughter, Molly and his beloved wife, Amy, who is the organizational genius behind Santa’s Cottage.

You may view his award-winning website at: http://www.santatucson.com/

Ya'll keep comin back mo reglar now as things is fixn to happen so fast it is even hard fer me to keep track of it all.

40 DAYS

This post is going to be a short one as I have to be in a meeting tonight I wanted to make sure I got this wonderful lady in here for all of you to meet.

Meet Theresa Garrett (aka Elle, Pinky) We are fortunate to have found Theresa and we think you will fall in love with her as well. When I spoke with her she had so much excitement about Celebrate Santa. Theresa really just wants to help as many Santa's as she can. Oh and she just returned from Russia on one of her Christian Missions.

She will be doing two different workshops for us. The First one will take place during the first session on Monday morning. That one will be Professional Santa Make-up and White Without Bleach. She will have a booth in Santa's Showcase as well, where from time to time she we be doing demonstrations.

Her Second workshop will be on Wednesday after lunch, Where she will talk about adding a puppet to your Santa and how it can help with the children. This can be a speaking or a non speaking puppet. Oh and for those that want to see her in action Elle and Cilly will do a short performance at the beginning of our lunch break on Wednesday, sort of a warm up before her workshop.

Elle & Cilly
Theresa Barbery Garrett is a 3o year resident of Waterloo SC. Pinky’s Clown Supplies and Productions is the Self-employed Business she runs. She celebrates her 28th year of Clowning this year. She has been working with her Vent Puppet Priscilly “Cilly” for short since 1993. They have performed in numerous countries around the world including Russian Television. Pinky’s Gospel Clown School was held from 1991-1998 in the US. Now, it continues to be held in Ukraine where over 125 Clowns are in Ministry throughout the former Soviet Union. She has just returned from her 16th trip working in Ukraine. She delivers food, shoes, clothing and Joy Boxes donated by American People to the orphans and poor village people there. They work in the Chernobyl region where many places, they are the first Americans ever seen and the first Gospel ever heard. Along with the Missions to Ukraine with “The Masters Mission” group, she teaches and performs across the USA. She teaches Professional Clown Makeup, Santa Makeup and many other clowning Classes. She has been a staff member of the prestigious Art of Clowning School –Advanced Studies with Master Clown Leon Mcbryde since 1994. She has several Characters she portrays, her newest being ELLE ELF. She is ready for this fun new Journey. Her husband Doug, 3 children and 2 grandchildren are all holding on for the ride!

Adding a Puppet to your Santa Non –speaking Puppets & Ventriloquism

Soften your Santa by adding a puppet in your hand. This can be a speaking or non-speaking puppet. Theresa “ELLE” Garrett will show you ways to draw those children in, bringing that puppet to life. The first part of class covers non- speaking puppets then onto the secrets of Ventriloquism.

Ya'll keep comin back mo reglar now as things is fixn to happen so fast it is even hard fer me to keep track of it all.

SIX WEEKS

Well I did not get a chance to add more workshops and presenters today. I was busy reading e-mails and responding to those people that I visited with yesterday. Then I went to and picked Joe up from the airport on his return from Minnesota. He let me know that there will be a contingency coming from that area. Also informed me that it was cold up there, and was gald to be back in a warmer climate.

For those of you who are interested in the routes for the Gatlinburg Trolley I have this link for you to find out about the Gatlinburg Trolley Routes.

Tommorow I will get another post ready with more information on it for all of you. we did get to over 1500 cities that have visited our blog today. That tells me there is more interest in what we are doing all the time. With only 6 weeks to go everything seems to be coming together rather well.

Some house cleaning items, Santa Jac is still looking for particpants in the Santa Band. As well if your group wants to march in the parade together send your application in so we will be able to get everyone lined up. If you have a float or something along those lines like maybe your own sleigh that you would like to enter the sme applies we need you to get your parade application in.
Now is a good time to get your registrations in or if you just had a deposit in you need to get your payments completed.

For those of you who are Cardinal Fans my deepest regrets, and for those that are Steeler Fans enjoy your sixth victory.

Ya'll keep comin back mo reglar now as things is fixn to happen so fast it is even hard fer me to keep track of it all.