Home & Family | Happy Holidays
So You Think You Look Like Santa Claus by Lauren Jameson
THIS TIME OF YEAR, YOU WILL SEE LOTS OF GUYS DRESSED IN PLUSH RED SUITS AND WEARING FAKE WHITE BEARDS. BUT EVERY NOW AND AGAIN, YOU WILL SEE A MAN WHO WILL MAKE YOU DO A DOUBLE TAKE AND SAY, “HEY, HE REALLY LOOKS LIKE SANTA CLAUS!” THERE ARE PLENTY OF “CLAUS CLONES” IN THE LAKE AREA. HERE’S WHAT SOME OF THEM THINK ABOUT THEIR UNCANNY RESEMBLANCE TO THE YULETIDE ICON.
Santa Stage Fright
These days in Charlotte, Milligan poses for Santa photos with pets and their owners at a pet supply store. The money raised from the photos goes toward a spay and neuter fund at the Charlotte animal shelter. “I’m told that it has a huge effect in reducing the number of unwanted strays that turn up at the shelter, so I feel great about doing it. And I’ve discovered that dogs don’t bite or pee any more often than kids do,” he said.
Skinny Santa Ralph Milligan, a longtime Lake Charles resident who now lives Charlotte, N.C., said he was a wreck the first time he walked in Santa’s shoes. “I was scared to death. The kids all knew what the drill was, but I didn’t,” he said. It didn’t take him long to get over that. Now, he enjoys every minute of his “Santa time.” Milligan said he relishes “the absolutely transforming smiles of children in public— especially when I get direct eye contact from a child... A wink will often get me a shy grin.” Milligan has countless fond memories. One is the time a boy was told by his church pastor to sit on Milligan’s lap and pull his beard — if the beard stuck, then he was the “real Santa.” “He suddenly reached up and tugged my (very real) beard — then jumped down and ran down the hall yelling, ‘They got the real one!’” Milligan said. Another time, he ran into a little girl at a toy store. She was thunderstruck. The two stared at each other. Then, Milligan waved at her. “She very slowly waved back at me. Then I ducked around the end of the aisle and ‘disappeared,’” he said. “I will never forget her beautiful, open-mouthed, transfixed stare — a moment I will always treasure. For a moment we each had magic — for two different reasons.”
8 www.thriveswla.com
Steven Hill has to watch his weight. Unlike the real Santa, Hill has been shedding the pounds— he has lost about 100 in the past year. Just recently, he decided to give dieting a rest so he would look good in his Santa suit.“Next year, I might need to use a pillow,” he joked. Hill, a Lake Charles resident, looks so much like St. Nick that he was chosen as this year’s official Santa for the local Toys for Tots campaign.“I love the idea people think I am Santa Claus,” he said. It’s a perfect fit for Hill — he adores Christmas almost as much as he adores children. “I enjoy kids. I love them so much. The smiles you get from them is worth it,” he said. He remembers a 4-year-old girl who was petrified of Santa, to the dismay of her mother. Every time the little girl would see a Santa, she’d cry.
Thrive Magazine for Better Living
“Her mom said if she sat on my lap, she could have a Barbie car,” Hill said. And she did it. “By the time it was over, she was smiling,” he said. “If I could make one kid smile, then I did what I needed to do,” he said. As Santa, Hill is happy to embody the spirit of Christmas — and help keep it alive. “Santa lives in your heart — if you believe. I do,” he said.
Those Darned Kids Randal Owen, owner of Owen and Associates Realtors in Lake Charles, said he never ceases to be amazed at the things kids say to him as Santa. At an event in Houston, a little boy came and sat on his lap.“I asked him, ‘Have you been good this year?’ He said, ‘No sir.’ It was just before Christmas, so I asked him, ‘Do you think you can be good for five more days?” He looked at his mom, then at me and said, ‘No, I can’t.’” Owen told the boy he would be rewarded for his honesty. Owen started looking and dressing as Santa about a dozen years ago — but only for his grandchildren. Now, wearing his custom-made suit, he is a Santa stand-in at events all over Louisiana and Texas. He remembers the time his oldest great grandson, Tyler, ratted on him when he visited his school as Santa.
December 2013