HOW TO ENTER AND VOTEScores of readers have entered the Silly With Santa Photo Contest at Chattamoms.com. Online voting will continue through Dec. 22, and a winner will be announced on Christmas Eve. The winner will receive a $150 gift card from Learning Express. Click here to view the entries and vote.
When the Times Free Press asked readers to submit favorite holiday shots for our Silly With Santa contest, we received a variety of fun-loving photos that would cause Santa to belly laugh with ho ho hos.
There were snapshots of children smiling, smirking, sleeping and squalling. One little Dennis the Menace wannabe is curling his fingers into demon claws while on the lap of Santa Claus.
Local Santa's helpers say the wishes they hear are just as diverse as the expressions captured in these family photo-ops.
"One little boy about 8 years old asked me to bring him a 1973 Cadillac for Christmas," said Everett Johnson, known as Tennessee Santa Claus.
Curious about this request, Johnson asked why a Cadillac, because his elves would have a very difficult time reproducing such a vehicle.
"His reply was very emphatic, 'I'm a Hank Williams Jr. fan.' And he looked the part in cowboy hat, boots and strut to go along with it," Johnson said.
Lou Knezevich of Marietta, Ga., has been a Santa's helper for 10 years. Among his many Santa sightings has been Polar Express Santa in Chattanooga on many Thanksgiving weekends.
"My favorite story actually happened to a good friend who is a Santa," said Knezevich.
"A group of little boys were around him, he was getting ready to leave, and he happened to ask what kind of cookies they were going to leave him on Christmas Eve."
TIPS FOR HAPPY SANTA VISITSA group of Santa-certified professionals, the Tri-State Santas, meets annually to bone up on what's tops in toys and get tips from their colleagues on how to correctly answer the tough questions. Here are their tips to parents on how to deal with a child's fear of Santa or a child reluctant to sit on Santa's lap.• Prepare your child for the visit by placing two or three small Santa dolls around the house. Your child can approach these objects as he desires to become familiar with Santa's look before the visit.• Never force a child to sit on Santa's lap.• Don't talk down to children; treat them with respect.• Let Santa handle the situation.
Knezevich said each little boy named some type of cookie, except one who loitered in the back. When most of his friends had gone, that child approached Santa and asked if he could share a secret.
The little boy whispered, "Don't eat my mother's cookies. She's a terrible cook."
Knezevich as Santa has become a friend of an Iraqi girl who was injured in a car-bomb explosion that killed her brother. Santa's friendship has worked its magic in her recovery.
"The girl has gone through 14 reconstructive surgeries. I visit her as Santa, she calls me on the phone and she is quite enamored with the idea of Santa Claus," he said.
Santa Lou, as he's known, said the Iraqi child has "wholeheartedly embraced" the U.S. custom of sharing Christmas wishes with Santa and has given him her wish list for all the Disney Princess dolls and a Barbie car.
"I usually give little stickers out to the children that say 'I Met Santa Claus.' I left a bunch of these stickers with her American mother, and they will be on her Christmas gifts so she'll know Santa remembered her wishes," he said.
Richard Bonnington, North Shore Santa, says most children visit to share their wish lists with Santa. But the ones who are most memorable "are the kids that have some concern that they don't want to talk to their parents about but they'll tell Santa."
"I had a little girl who asked for her grandfather to have a better life in heaven than he had on Earth. There are always kids that ask for their daddy to be with them at Christmas. The problem is you don't know if their situation is a divorce, if dad's off in the military or if he is even alive."
Just as Santa knows how to answer these tough questions, he's the ho-ho pro on handling frightened children.
"We have a few tricks we do, where I can be in a picture with a child and the child not even know it," said Bonnington
"One of the things I've done for years when there is a problem, is to get mom to take the child into another area. I'll hide behind my chair. They bring the child back in, seat the child in the chair facing the camera. Then Santa will stand up from behind the chair without the child even knowing it. It can make a very cute picture," he said.