Santa brings cheer
to Lincoln children
SOUTHPOINTE from page 8
Harley Davidson motorcycle
and will speak to shoppers,
along with Mayor Don Wesley.
At 6 p.m., a switch will be
thrown lighting all the
SouthPointe stores and the dec
orated 35-foot Colorado Blue
Spruce in the center courtyard.
“Santa’s Village will be in the
only space left unleased at
SouthPointe,” said SouthPointe
Pavilions General Manager
Joan Yant. “It’s an empty bay
that we've decorated for the
occasion.”
The village will be near the
cinema, just west of Journeys
shoe store. Santa will be there
with his elf every Saturday and
Sunday from 12 to 5 p.m. until
Christmas Eve.
For children who can’t make
it to see him on the weekend,
he'll have a mailbox outside the
village where they can deliver
letters to him. If they put their
return address on the envelope,
Santa will write bade.
“That way, during the week
children can still contact him,
and every child will have a
chance to communicate will
Santa,” Yant said.
The SouthPointe Santa has
done home and day care visits,
company holiday parties, busi
ness grand openings and open
houses throughout southeast
Nebraska and even has his own
specially designed Santa suit
that ran a cool $1,200, he said.
In the years working as Santa, he
says children have had some pretty
humorous gift wishes.
He recalls a seven-year-old who
wanted a red convertible and
another child who thought he need
ed a live elephant, but he also
remembers some more serious
requests.
“One little boy, about six years
old, said he’d waited all year to see
me and knew that I could do mira
cles,” he said. “I asked him what he
wanted for Christmas, and he said,
‘My mommy died of cancer this
year, and I want you to bring her
back.’
When you’re Santa, you have to
be quick on your feet,” he said. “I
went into a positive message and
told him there are some things that
even Santa can’t do. That’s just one
of the tearjerkers.”
SouthPointe Santa said he
enjoys his job, especially on the days
he meets children who might not
have much of a Christmas if it
weren’t for their visit to see him.
“A lot of kids I see might not have
a Christmas with gifts, so part of my
job is just bringing a sparkle to their
eyes and brightening their
Christmas,” he said.
For those who want to help
brighten a child's Christmas, two
loving trees will be set in Santa’s
Village, sponsored by Friendship
Home and the Salvation Army.
These trees will be a place where
people can purchase gifts and leave
them for children that might not
otherwise receive any gifts this holi
day season.
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I Exposing Santa painful to some
SANTA from page 8
was acquired with age.
“I always kind of won
dered how (Santa Claus) got
around to everybody's house
in one night," said Jeremy
Albin, a sophomore biosys
tems engineering major.
“Then his handwriting
kind of looked like my mom’s,”
Albin said.
For other students, the
moment is forever etched in
their minds.
“I remember every detail.
Matt Gharst told me in the
third grade,” said Mayfield, who
then became confused by her
parents when they still insisted
Santa Claus was real.
“I was definitely hurt,” said
Mayfield.
Dr. Jefrey Stormburg, a prac
ticing psychotherapist in
Lincoln, said small white lies are
suitable when answering a child’s
questions about Santa Claus.
"Society has a lot of age
appropriate half-truths that are
pretty harmless, but I always
encourage parents to tell the
truth,” Stormburg said.
Some parents decided not to
befuddle their children with half
truths about Santa.
“My mom was so devastated
when she found out that Santa
wasn't real that she decided not to
tell us," said Lindsay Acklie, a
sophomore accounting major.
“I always knew when others
didn’t, but we couldn't tell them,”
Acklie said.
Santa Claus or Santa not, life
continued Kunz said.
“I still get presents from
Santa,” Kunz said. “They haven't
lost their meaning because I
know that someone special
cares.”
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