Santa delights excited Baja orphans with 
for Christmas!
Please donate today to help buy toys for poor kids in Mexico for Christmas and for Three Kings Day January 6!
Santa delights excited Baja orphans with for Christmas!
Please donate today to help buy toys for poor kids in Mexico for Christmas and for Three Kings Day January 6!
Or make a check payable to Future Wave, Inc., earmarked for "Santa Fund" and send it to:
Arthur Kanegis, 114 C Avenue, Suite 228. Coronado, CA 92118
My Dad, a young Jewish man in New Rochelle, NY, got a job as a department store Santa back in the 1930s. After work, a young woman spotted him still in costume, beamed, and invited him into her home to visit with her paraplegic son. Having Santa stroke his head filled him with comfort and joy that everyone was moved to tears -- and my dad was transformed into THE Santa.
Santa roamed the streets, playing “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” on an accordion, ministering to one and all -- although he had never played a musical instrument before. He told us kids that a certain spirit came over him - and that everyone who catches that spirit of the love that knows no borders -- is the true Santa!
My papa's name was LEON which is NOEL spelled backwards.
All year around my dad carried “Little Turtles of Happiness” in his pocket and gave them away. He’d withdraw their little rubber heads and legs into their shells, and talk about how sometimes we want to just withdraw and hide from the pain of the world. Then he'd nuzzle two turtles together, and out would pop their little heads! “The power of love brings us out of our shells,” he would explain.
When I was 4 ½ years old, my mom died, and my dad was so heartbroken he lost the Santa spirit. Year later, after I graduated from College I bought him a Santa suit for his birthday. As he opened the surprise gift, he gasped: “My clothes. I haven’t worn my clothes in 40 years!” He began doing Santa again to the delight of Children at the Friends Meeting.
One Christmas. to cheer up a friend in the hospital, I borrowed my dad’s suit. My friend was heartened by my visit, and afterwards I went to the children’s ward with a bag of toys. The kids looked miserable – burned faces, legs hoisted up in traction, an arm in a sling. All of a sudden they spotted me and the misery vanished. “Santa,” they yelled.
As the kid in the sling one-handedly played with his spinning gizmo I knew that this was bigger than me, bigger than a man in a red suit. When you don the magic robes, you suddenly become what all religions preach: ONE! All who are filled with the spirit of giving are the real "Santa Claus."
As the kids played happily, I slipped away to go home. “Wouldn’t you like to visit some of the other wards, Santa?” the nurse asked.
“Well, I don’t know,” I said, a little embarrassed. “Adults aren’t going to want some guy in a Santa suit bothering them.” But she convinced me to give it a try. In the first room, an elderly woman gripped my hand. “Santa,” she said with a pained smile, “I’m so glad you came. I just found out that I’m dying.” Choking up, I couldn’t speak so I just looked serenely in her face, and held her hand for what felt like an eternity. A look of peace came over her eyes as I had the joy of being the carrier of that universal spirit.
I became Santa like my papa Noel. In Santa Fe, I had the thrill of giving away an entire toy-store full of toys. At Casa Real retirement home, I danced with ladies in their walkers. On Southwest airlines people asked me to present their gifts to loved ones and the pilot announced on the intercom the progress of my reindeer dashing along side.
When Molly’s mom was in a nursing home, I had no gifts for grownups, so I tried giving out the only toys I had, stuffed animals. Some smiled, some laughed, some hugged their toys and cried. “Some of them have been non-responsive for years,” said an amazed nurse. “Somehow you must have awakened a memory from their childhood.”
Although my dad passed away at age 86, I feel his spirit coming alive in the playful joy of Christmas.
For the past few years I’ve grown out my beard as the solstice approached, bleached it white, and donned the magic robes to do Santa for poor children in Mexico. The wonderful beach community of La Mision is filled with the finest elves, rivaling the North pole. These friends and Pillow Pets have donated thousands of toys for me to give away to children.
Santa’s Magical Journey, is a special opportunity for you to take an imaginary ride with Santa in his sled and to experience first hand the joy of giving. The CD audiobook is just 99 cents on Amazon. Click here to buy now - Santa's Magical Journey
Or make a check payable to Future Wave, Inc. , earmarked for "Santa Fund" and send it to:
Arthur Kanegis, 114 C Avenue, Suite 228. Coronado, CA 92118
