Good morning!!
god Morgen, 早安, guten Morgen, hyvää huomenta, おはようございます, bon Matin
HO HO HO !!!!
I am writing you today from Vedbaek, Denmark where I am covering the World Santa Claus Congress!! The gathering of Santa Claus’s and family members including Ms. Claus, Elves and Reindeers travel from all over the world to be part of 56 years of Danish tradition, spreading the joy and cheer of the holiday season to every culture worldwide. They travel not by their traditional conveyance of Sled and Reindeer but by more conventional carrier of train, planes and automobiles. The come to meet and play at the world’s oldest amusement park, Drehavsbakken. An amusement park dedicated to the sprit of the Holiday Season year round.
You may ask how one gets invited to cover such an event and I might just have to say, it is what I had “wished” for. Actually I have a close friend, Mr. Stan (SANTA) Miller who is a real life Santa Claus and over dinner one night he explained that he would soon be traveling to Denmark and why. I thought what a great story concept and the rest is, shall we say, Christmas Lore.
It is like waking up every day to a new Christmas morning. The Santa’s have traveled from Sweden, Germany, Hong Kong, Norway, France, Japan and oh yes, the United Sates. Each with his or her (yes her) own individual personality and style, they all share a belief in the holiday, spreading cheer and keeping the spirit of Christmas alive. As they past through the airports in some form of holiday clothing you watch as the children and adults take notice, their eyes light up and for that brief moment you see the spirit of Christmas awaken. There is no mistaking the desire or the spirit in what these world wide Santa’s all share. It is a common feeling of the spirit of the holiday that they value so much and their belief that in their part of the world, Santa does continue to live in the hearts of us all.
This gathering of Santa’s and family extends over a four day period with many activities planned; the traditional salt water foot bath at Bellevue Strand, a luncheon at the Copenhagen town hall, a parade through the streets of Copenhagen and then on to Bakken where they will participate in numerous events over the course of three days. All of this in traditional holiday clothing where is no mistaking who they are.
Like most, I have always wondered where Santa’s go to relax and enjoy their time away from “work” and now I know at least one place that you may find them in Hawaiian style shirts, when not parading through the streets, and that place is Denmark.
Ho Ho Ho and Merry Christmas (ok I know it is July but it is hard not to get caught up in the moment) to you all and to all … a good night!!! Many thanks to STANTA for inviting me along “for the ride!”
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Best Regards …..
~ dK ~
