A San Dieo Santa Story

You read it here first! Santa is considering a move to San Diego!

We spotted him at Seaport Village recently, where he was shopping for special presents for Mrs. Claus and the elves. At first, we weren’t sure it was the jolly old elf. He was dressed in a red Hawaiian shirt, board shorts and flip-flops.

“I’m a surfin’ Santa,” he quipped when we caught up with him. Taking a few days vacation from the hurry-burry North Pole, he sat down to put on some SP 30 sunscreen. “I’m not used to this sun, so I have to take extra care,” he said. “There must be no peeling Santa at Christmas.”

Acclimating to our mild winters isn’t easy, he said. “That’s why I’m thinking to find property here.”  (Wow!) “Maybe Julian,” he said. “I’ll still have to put on my red suit for the Minnesota weather on Christmas Eve.

“I think I’ll keep the beard, maybe trim it up for the summer,” he said.

He pulled out a scroll and showed us the naughty and nice list of names on it. “It’s written in North Polish by the elves,” he explained as we squinted to make sense of it. No San Diego children were on the wrong side of the list, he said, because “they’re usually nice kids here.”

Outdoor and water sports items are the perfect toys for these local nice kids, Santa said. “Hula hoops, footballs, boogie boards, in-line skates are some that I’ve packed already.”

Still in production are some popular toys, like the Tickle Me Elmos, he said. “The elves working on a new version,” he explained. “They’re always trying to outdo themselves. He looked out at the ocean and the surfers.

“Those surfer kids are pretty special, even on land,” he mused. “They like adventure and they’re really patient, so I try to make their presents extra special. They want the new skateboards that do a 360. The elves are playing with that design, so we may have a few for the special kids this year.”

Those special orders are keeping Mrs. Santa back at the pole. “She’s helping the elves get things in order,” Santa said. “The Oompa Loompas are coming to work this year, and she’s trying to motivate the elves. She has deadlines, so she may not be able to get away until after Christmas.

“She likes to shop at Seaport Village and watch me come in on the powerboat, if she can get away,” he said, taking out a packet of fudge and offering some before he reached into the bag. “Mrs. Claus has been talking to me about slimming down a little, so maybe I should seriously consider moving here. For exercise, I could learn to surf.”

Then he stood up and stretched, revealing just a bit of belly. He still had shopping to do, he said, before he went back to the cold North Pole to finish getting ready for Christmas.

“I’m going to SeaWorld tomorrow,” he said. “Then Legoland to check out some new ideas. Afterward, I’ll stop by the San Diego Zoo to pick up my reindeer. They’re visiting their relatives there.” Then, he put a finger right next to his nose. “I might be able to recruit those local reindeer for next year,” he said.