Wollaston Golf Club was one of my first big Santa Claus clients. It was a very exciting gig as they flew me in via helicopter and they landed me on the first tee, swooping in as scores of children (and adults) waited excitedly for Santa Claus to arrive.

My second year had me meeting children in the main lobby. In front of me was a line of eager little ones waiting to share wish lists and take photos with Santa. 

Everything was going smoothly until I saw an older woman collapse. She went down hard. Immediately a 5 year old boy’s voice rang out with a desperate “Grandma!”

The majority of children were young and vulnerable, and I could see the anxiety level of the parents rise immediately. Frightened and confused, the positive emotion that enveloped the room quickly turned to the wrong kind of buzz.

Though relatively inexperienced compared to now, I knew exactly what to do. I leapt to my feet, gathered the children’s attention, and explained to everybody loudly that it was “time to count the ornaments on the tree.” 

I kept a broad smile on my face letting out my jolliest “Ho, Ho, Ho’s!” as all of the children delightedly followed me to the next room over, distracted from the disturbing scene taking place. I pulled every technique that I had in my repertoire, from counting in Spanish and other languages to seeing who could name all of my reindeer.

Thankfully the woman had collapsed due to low blood sugar, though she was taken to the hospital just to be on the safe side.

After things had settled down, we went back into the photo area and the rest of the shoot was uneventful.

I received a phone call a couple of days later and lo and behold it was the woman who had collapsed. A lovely South Shore native, she reached out to me to express her gratitude. She also gave me her point of view. She explained that she wasn’t too worried when she initially fainted, but when she opened her eyes and saw Santa Claus running away, she knew things must be bad. We had a laugh, and she expressed her gratitude at my handling of the situation. I assured it was just part of being a Santa Claus for Hire, and she was definitely on the nice list!