The origins of Sinterklaas can be found in the stories of Saint Nicholas, a 4th-century Greek bishop from Myra, now in modern-day Turkey. Today, St. Nicholas is known all across the world and has many helpers with various names like Father Christmas, Weihnachtsmann, Ded Moroz (Father Frost), Julenissen, and many more. In Iceland, they have 13 Yule Lads they call the Jólasveinar. Here in Wasatch County, we have a few of these generous and jolly Sinterklaas’ who visit us each year in December — all of which go by the name of Santa Claus. I tried tracking all of our Santa’s helpers down to see if I could talk with them, but, as you can probably guess, Santa is a difficult man to find, especially if you don’t have a direct line to the North Pole!
Thankfully, one of Heber Valley’s elves came to the rescue and helped me connect with City Hall’s Santa Claus, aka Anthony White, and we had a very merry conversation about his life as Santa. Like many young boys, Anthony was fascinated with magic and dabbled with it here and there. As a young adult, he took the fine art of magic more seriously, learning from others and honing his skills. Eventually, Anthony joined the International Brotherhood of Magicians, and years later, decided to become a full-time magician. He couldn’t have known then, but that decision would change his life. In the movie The Santa Clause, Tim Allen’s character, Scott Calvin, decides to put on Santa’s suit, and, by so doing, unknowingly agrees to begin the transformative journey of becoming Santa Claus. Similarly, Anthony’s decision to don a Santa Suit would take him on his own journey. He explains, “I received a call fifteen years ago from a woman who wanted to hire me for four hours. She said there would be forty kids, and I could pick up the suit from her husband. I was a little confused. When I asked what she meant, she said, ‘Well, I need you to be Santa Claus.’” Anthony almost told her no; he was a magician, not a Santa, after all. Instead, he asked for her address, put on the suit, wore the fake beard, and absolutely fell in love with being Santa! “I came home and shared the news with Mrs. Claus, who made me two beautiful suits. Of course, I couldn’t be Santa without Mrs. Claus; she is amazing.” And with that, Anthony White became Santa Claus.
To ‘become’ Santa, one must embrace and live the true spirit of Christmas: charity, kindness, and love. Santa explains, “Most importantly, you have to love children. You will have some who are rude or throwing a temper tantrum, some who are very shy, or come from very meager or difficult circumstances. It doesn’t matter who they are or where or what they come from — you have to love them all together.” He continues, “I am there to talk with the child and create a special one-on-one moment where the child gets to speak. I find out what they want, and sometimes I hear about school and family (FYI: little ones like to tell Santa everything). It’s important to me that they know that Santa loves them.” Santa added, “I love to see the sparkle in all the children’s eyes, and by that, I mean children of all ages. Grandmas will come and sit on my lap, and their eyes are just twinkling. They say, ‘Hello Santa,’ and hug me, and I already know what they want for Christmas, but I ask them anyway. It’s always happiness for my children. It’s so much fun because that is where you really see the true spirit of Christmas — it is in the sparkle in their eyes.”
“One of the most touching requests I get every once in a while is when a child says they want a loved one that has passed. I have a family I visit every year whose little girl asked for her daddy to come back. I looked at her, and I smiled and said, ‘You know what, your daddy will be here for Christmas. You won’t see him, but he’ll be here in spirit, and Santa knows because he talked to Mother Nature, and she said to tell you that your daddy loves you very much, and he’s very proud of you, and he will always be watching over you.’ She gave me a big hug and said thank you, Santa.’” While I pause to control my emotions, Santa shares another tender moment. He visited a family with a little boy who had brittle bone disease. When they put him on Santa’s lap, he began to shake and cry. Santa wondered, ‘Uh-Oh, what did I do wrong?’ But the little boy looked up at him and said, “I knew that if I sat on Santa’s lap, I would be happy!”
As I do my best to act professional and not full-on sob, Santa, being Santa, knows he needs to share a jollier story. “I was between appearances and driving through an impoverished neighborhood where I pulled over to take a little winter’s nap. Suddenly, I had a very strong suspicion that I was being watched. I opened my eyes, and there were two little kids with their noses squashed against the window. I freaked out and drove off! But then I thought about those two kids and turned around. I knocked on the door, and it flew open! And, the little girl said, ‘See! I told you mom!’ I gave them each a candy cane, and instead of eating them, they placed them like prized possessions under their tiny tree. Of course, I sat down and asked them what they wanted for Christmas. It’s always interesting because the children who don’t have much want things for other people. The children wanted something nice for their mama, and after we dried our eyes, the mother came up and gave Santa a big hug. We took pictures, and, to be quite honest, I don’t think I drove on the road to my next appointment — I kind of floated along.”
“I feel that I am supposed to be Santa Claus because I’ve been blessed with an extra amount of love.”
When Santa is in the city, he has to hide the sleigh and reindeer and use more modern-day transportation. On these occasions, he says, “When I am Santa, I am a very kind and friendly driver.” He loves the reactions of grouchy or mad commuters when they look to see Santa waving and smiling at them. “Suddenly, they get the biggest, cheesiest grin and are happy!” He’s even been known to toss them a candy cane or two through an open car window at stoplights. Once, while driving to Provo, he forgot he was in his Santa suit and stopped to help a family change a flat tire. “The look on the little girl’s face was priceless! HO! HO! HO!” His booming laugh fills the room.
Santa loves these unplanned moments. And so does Anthony, but he explains, “When I am Santa, I am Santa. I know it sounds weird, and it’s hard to describe, but once I put on the suit — I’m no longer there, Santa’s there.” Santa grows out his beard every year, and since he’s not a natural ‘white,’ his daughter works a little magic of her own to help him achieve his “beard that’s white.” However, he shares that there is nothing artificial about his belly that shakes like a “bowl full of jelly!” Standing at 6’ 7.5” (with his boots on) and featuring 300 pounds of jolliness, Santa cuts quite the figure. One might suppose he’d terrify little children, but Santa laughs as he says, “I get tackled almost from the moment I enter the room. I get asked at least once or twice why I am so tall. I ask the kids, ‘Well, could you see Santa sitting on a phone book trying to see over the reindeer?’ Of course, the kids don’t even know what a phone book is, but the parents nod and smile.” He makes a compelling point; it is important for Santa to see over his sleigh and reindeer – Rudolph can’t be expected to do all the guiding!
Rudolph is the only one of Santa’s nine reindeer with a special nose that glows. When asked how it shines so bright, Santa gives the children a brief science lesson on bioluminescence, which is the ability of living organisms to produce and emit light through a chemical reaction. Just like the creatures who live in the deepest parts of the ocean, like the Mariana Trench, Rudolph can use his bioluminescence to light Santa’s sleigh on foggy nights. The other reindeer also have unique talents, but not knowing what they are is part of the magic and mystery. In addition to those nine reindeer, there are 144 reindeer in training. Santa says, “Now, you guys sometimes have reindeer here in Heber, and some of those reindeer are mine, but most are not. How the reindeer fly is a secret of Santa’s, so I have to tell the children and the adults that I’m sorry, but you can’t see any of my reindeer. But you can certainly leave them a treat or a note – they love that.” One of the most popular questions is, ‘How do you get down the chimney?’ And, ‘What if I don’t have a chimney; do you come through my front door?’ Santa explains, “It’s very interesting how that works: I get above the chimney, and I get all googly — kind of like Jell-O, and then slurp the chimney just sucks me right down! I deliver the presents, then I place a finger beside my nose, give a nod, and whoosh up the chimney I go! I always pop like a cork coming out, which is so fun. Some houses don’t have chimneys; all they have are pipes. I get sucked down those pipes, and a fireplace appears, and when I go back up — the fireplace disappears. The original Santa never went through the front door, and neither do I.” As for what happens to fire in the fireplace — well, Santa has a magic flame on the soul of his beautiful black boots that freezes and unfreezes the fire so he doesn’t get burnt — pretty clever!
Santa also gets asked, “Do you really eat all the cookies?” And, “How many elves do you have?” Santa chuckles, “I always take a bite, but sometimes the reindeer like to taste the cookies. So, I will share it with them or save it for a midnight snack.”
As we end our interview, Anthony expresses his gratitude for Santa, “I feel that I am supposed to be Santa Claus because I’ve been blessed with an extra amount of love, and I’m able to help people. This world that we live in – this is something Santa wouldn’t say — but let’s be honest, it can be really horrible sometimes. What I do is try to bring some happiness and joy into the world.” I can hear Anthony’s and Santa’s love for being Santa in the answer to the last question, “At the North Pole, there are 3,624 elves, and I didn’t find the elves; the elves found me. They have helped Mrs. Claus and I become who we are today. The elves and the children are the ones who taught me the magic of Christmas.”
