Well the Santa job was a lot of fun. As expected the mothers from the apartment complex were very thorough. They sent a couple of moms over to make sure I was awake 30 minutes before game time, and then they sent some five minutes before to look over the costume and escort me over there.
When I got there I waited outside a black curtain, and when the moment came I stepped out into a group of 30 or so suitably surprised kids. I walked over to the front with a couple of “Merry Christmas”‘s and “Ho Ho HO!”‘s. Once I got to the front of everyone, they had a Santa Claus Q&A session. That was a first for me – I wasn’t expected to be grilled by little kids in Japanese.
The age range of the kids varied a lot, but everyone seemed to be in elementary school. The questions were fun – “Are you single?” “How do reindeers fly?” “Where are your reindeer right now?” “How did you get here?” “How do you get into the houses?”
I did my best in Japanese and I think everyone understood. It was pretty fun. Then they had each kid come up and get a present from me. I read out the name, and then the kid would come up, snatch the present, and run for it. The organizers wanted to get a picture with each one, so they would have to go chase down the kid who was already tearing into his or her gift.
It made for a long gift delivery session. Each kid took the present and ran, and then everyone would scramble to gather them up and bring them up to stand next to me. I would smile and wave, but I had so much fake hair on my face I don’t think anyone noticed.
After still more pictures we sang “Silent Night” in Japanese (I faked it). Then they ushered me out of there and I was back in my civilian clothes in 20 minutes. Thanks to double sided tape I lost quite a bit of eyebrow hair, but overall it was a success. Too much fun.
