Santa Visits the Porch

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:

"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now Prancer and Vixen!

On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!

To the top of the PORCH! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

From A Visit From St. Nicholas

By: Clement Clarke Moore

He's here!!!!!

In a festive episode that fills the air with holiday cheer, we bring you a delightful conversation with none other than Santa Claus himself. Join us as we explore Santa’s preparations for Christmas, the whimsical requests from children, and the heartwarming stories that embody the spirit of giving.

Transcript

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It's not big monster trucks, it's just little toys. And Barbies and Barbies are always, forever favorite. And same thing with dollies. This episode of Bring Back the Porch, brought to you by Bernie Leahy, River Street Realty. Let's get you home. Well, welcome to the porch. We have a very special guest. Santa himself is making an appearance. Welcome, Santa. It's so nice to see you. It's so nice to be here, too. I, cannot tell you how excited I was. I've been asking all my friends. What should I ask Santa? And, some wanted me to ask you about the, HR problem with the elves. Others wanted to know how you're getting the reindeer ready to go, but, I, what I really want to know about is, How busy are you getting ready for Christmas? Oh. Very busy. I, I'm going someplace every day, so. What's the reaction when people see you? Oh. First words. Oh, Santa. And this is good. I guess that's who I am. So. Yes. Yeah. So you're well known in the community? Yes. Brian Conrad, our colleague from the port. She wanted to know, how do kids, when they come up to you, do they pull on your whiskers to see if they're real? Actually not. I have to encourage a few to to give it a pull just because they're they're kind of standoffish and thinking, maybe I'm not the real one, but yeah, I've had this beard for a lot of years. So. And does it take a lot of work to keep a beard, in good Santa shape? Yes. What what kind of what do you have to do? Well, you have to kind of kind of keep it in, condition the hair itself. And, I, I use to curlers. Really. You know, I get this to curl down. So otherwise, Mrs. Claus is saying, you know, that's curling up. You look. Don't look right. Well, I would love to see a picture with Santa with his curlers in. I think that would be really cute. I know that, it's the time of year where children are starting to come sit on your knee and talk about presents. What kind of presents are kids in 2025 asking for? Well, one of the most popular asks is a monster. Trucks and slime, and the parents are going hungry. Okay, well, whatever you want, that's what we're going to see what we can do. But the monster trucks, it's not big monster trucks. It's just little toys and Barbies for Barbies always forever. Favorite and same thing with dolls. Yeah. I had, a little girl sit on my lap. The other thing is I could. I could tell you a secret. I can't tell mom. Can't tell dad. We're going to get Grandma and Grandpa puppy. So I'm not sure who's getting the puppy, but. Grandma and grandpa. Hey, if you're out there watching and be ready for a puppy coming to your door. A King Charles, I think. Oh, wow. Well, that would be an adorable little present for the tree, wouldn't it be? I know you're busy with your lists. You've been busy with your lists for years and years. Is the naughty list getting any smaller these days, or is the nice list staying the same? How are we doing with the naughty and nice? Actually, the nice list is getting very long. There's very few kids that are naughty anymore. Like naughty all the time. They they try hard to be nice, so I think I think it's getting shorter than most. If we were a few days away from Christmas, there's still a chance. If some kids were to be nice, they might. If they were on the naughty list, they could still get on the nice. Oh yes, there's always a chance to get onto the nice list. I always ask, I always ask kids when they get on my lap. Are you helping Mom and Dad? Because that's important. If you want to be nice, you be nice to Mom and Dad. Yeah. And that's where the. That's a good place to start, because there's not a lot of rules about help. Help means you do what you're asked to do, so. That's right. Yeah. Now, Santa, you gear up all year long, I'm sure, for Christmas. But what do you do after Christmas? To maybe take, a holiday or. Relax? How do you. What's your downtime look like, Santa? Well, we're just like, the Rose parade or any of these things. The day after Christmas, we start getting ready for the next Christmas. The only thing is, we all take a little bit easier. It's not. Not as many hours in the day. You know, Christmas time is right. The shortest days of the year. So it can maybe, maybe not be up quite so early and stay till late. That's good. That's very good. I'm sure in Australia when you have to get down there and use your, six, eight boomers, it's a little different. Yes. How how do you find going across the world in one day? You're getting kind of older now. Do you still think you can handle this all in one night? Oh, I don't know if I'm older or not. Oh, I'll always be young at heart. Yeah, that's the big part. Yeah. So. That's right. Now everybody knows that the reindeer are a big priority. What are you doing to get them in shape for Christmas night? Oh, we rest them really good. We give them all the best feed, all the best hay, and we start giving them a few carrots just so that when they do the claps round, everybody. Everybody. Stephen cares for the reindeer, so they get care. So that feeds them fast. They get. They go really fast after having carrots. Well that's good to know because I'm sure there's kids out there wondering what they could leave for their favorite reindeer. Yeah, well, there's milk cookies and carrots now. Do you have a favorite cookie you like to have? Santa. Oh, I like myself, I like oatmeal. Oh, okay. Yeah. Because it's not too much sugar on it. But I bet you after you've had all those cookies all night, you got to kind of watch that sugar. Yes. You do. And milk is okay. You don't want something else? Sometimes. Maybe after a little while, maybe you want something different. No, I stick with milk. Milk or water? Water? That's a good idea. Keep you hydrated, right? Yeah. Somebody on my list wanted me to ask you if you. Well, maybe you can't say this, but do you have a favorite reindeer? I know of of of all the reindeer. Rudolph the best. Because he's my favorite. When when the times are tough, he leads by sleigh. All the rest of the reindeer. They pull hard, but they don't have that red nose to get them through the fog and the snow and everything. So it's good that he still is available to come in. Pull your sleeve. Yes, yes. Now, have you ever been outside for a crazy present for Christmas? Like, what's the weirdest thing somebody has asked you for for Christmas? No, I haven't had. All of them are good, proper requests. Most kids they ask for for things that they know that they can have or should have. Every once in a while, do I get an adult that asks me something for Christmas that I just. Well, I don't know, one? Dad will stand back. I want an F-150. Well, I just don't think that's going to happen. That's a little bit too big for your sleigh, isn't it? Yes it is. Yeah. Well, do you have any, favorite, heartwarming stories about having somebody come up and sit on your knee? Do you have any little stories that really made you feel like that's the Christmas spirit? I just love it when, the little kids, they actually, they don't walk up. They run up, and they jump in your lap like they trust you to no end. And, it helps me not just when I'm sitting down it on my chair, but if they see me in the mall or whatever, they come running up, and, and I like it was last year. I remember one girl, she was at Walmart, and she was screaming at me from the far end of the hallway. She was she was handicapped, but she just loved me so much to want to come see me. Isn't that nice? You know, I think sometimes, around this time, a lot time of year, a lot of people see your picture and you're you're out there, but it's the rest of the year when you're in kind of incognito. It must be kind of surprising to you that you're still getting recognized as Santa. Yes. I, I can't go to, the food court very often after right after Christmas because they're still looking for me. The kids now, Santa, you brought somebody really, really special with you. You couldn't. I know it's hard to get a reindeer down to Medicine Hat on such short notice, but you did bring a special animal with you. Could you tell us who you brought with you today? I brought Nola, my dog, with me. She is. She is my, therapy animal. And we go visiting a lot of people with, special needs or whatever. So is Nola. She's obviously trained to be able to go into these places. What is the effect of seeing that little Santa Claus dog have on people? Oh, they just love her. It is lovely. See, I, I was at the hospital yesterday and I go with they're all out there and they didn't say, hi, Santa. They said, Where's Nola? I guess, I guess I know where I am. Yes, we'll be adults at the hospital then. Yes. Well, and I hear that you do go other places besides the hospital. Why don't you tell me some of the other places you go with Nola? Santa? Oh, we go to the homes and we also go to the rehab center downtown. And, we really enjoy that thing. Nola enjoys it, too, because they have a big yard that a lot of people, they play games in and stuff. And I let her go play with them. So she gets a little bit of exercise. Yes. Right now is she does she come on the sleigh on Christmas Eve or do you leave her with Mrs. Claus? She's going to stay with Mrs. Claus on Christmas Eve because I only got so much magic to go around to. It's small and get down chimneys and stuff like that. But she is good that way. Yeah, she likes to stay with Mrs. Claus. Now, Santa, I know there's kids out there that are concerned that there. How are you going to find me if I don't have a chimney in my house? Oh, can you share a little bit about the magic of how you do that? I love my kids. But usually when I. When I come, I have a key. It's a special key that works on everybody's door. So I can go. I can walk into any door and so there you go. Quick. It goes quick that way too. Yeah. Just having to park the reindeer is hard part. Do you have a special parking permit for when you're in the city? That's a good question. I'll have to ask for a special. I got special passes for a lot of places, but I don't. I don't have one for roofs. Yeah. Now I know that the airlines are going to be tracking you as you go across the world for Christmas. Do you ever check to see where you are on that tracker. I got G.P.S.. Well and Rudolph's I guess. And Rudolph knows where he's going, but yeah, they would travel so fast. It's so fast. Yeah, yeah. Now, I know that, you're been busy in your workshop, and you and your elves have been frantically putting on wrapping all those presents and putting on the finishing touches on all the toys. But I'm sure on Christmas Day, as you go around the world, Mrs. Claus is sitting at home. What does she do while you're gone? Oh, she keeps track of me. Okay? She's. She's always watching where I am, and she always giving me instructions of if I miss somebody, I got her. No way. Yes. So she's sort of like, you're you're, What do they call it? Logistics. Yes. So she's making sure that you're staying on track to where you're supposed to be in. The presents are getting delivered to the right kids. You know, a lot of kids ask, well, we're going to go to grandma and Grandpa's where you still find me. That's how we find you. We know where everybody is. Well, that's that's good to know, because I'm sure there's lots of kids that get concerned about that kind of thing. You know? We'll find you in here. Yeah. If you're there, we'll find you. So I'm assuming then her night's just as busy as yours. Yes. Oh, yeah. Just sitting around baking cookies and got her feet up watching Christmas movies. We don't need any more cookies. Just stop it. There. Now, Santa, do you have to go on a diet after Christmas? Oh, yes, I do. So, are you the kind of diet that's a lot of lettuce and, carrots like the reindeer get? Or are you more, you only eat once a day. What kind of a diet do you go on? Oh, I cut back on all the sugary things like cookies and and, things I have. Not so much milk. Milk, fat. And you are pretty good, you know? Yeah. And you probably you have to cut down to one candy cane a day. Yeah. Yeah, that's that's that's really hard. Yeah, I bet, but you know, the best thing about you, Santa, is that you give the gift of giving and you bring hope to the world. So thanks for that. Yes. Thank you. Merry Christmas, Santa, merry Christmas. And like I tell everybody else Feliz Navidad Joyeux Noel And then the other thing which I can think of is I gotta go around the world. Yes. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas.