A sleigh full of memories and giving

Last year, I had the chance to sit on Santa’s lap — for the first time in many, many years — at the North Fork Chilifest.

Sitting on Santa’s lap is no small feat since my dimensions stray toward the Rubenesque category, but according to John Drynan, Santa Claus’ alter ego, that’s not a problem. In his tenure as the Man in the Red Suit, his knees have endured worse.

“I once had two people, one on each knee, and each one weighed 350 pounds, easy,” Drynan said.

Drynan has plenty of stories to tell about his life as an icon shrouded in myth. The hard part for Drynan is his Santa stint may be coming to an end — Santa himself needs a Christmas miracle.

Drynan, diagnosed with cancer in 2007, said blood tests reveal that the cancer is back, and doctors are running more tests. But he steers our conversation away from such things. He doesn’t think about not being Santa in the future. He’d rather talk about being Santa for 20 years and the people whose lives he knows he’s impacted.

Kids are a big reason why Drynan donates so much time to being Santa. He said it has helped him keep his own perspective on his illness in check. He makes a special trip each year to the Ronald McDonald House and spends precious time with the families there at a time when they need Santa the most, at Christmas.

“What do you do when you’re sitting there and you see a small child with a shunt in his head?” Drynan said. “You can’t feel sorry for yourself.”

It turns out that being Santa has its peculiar hazards. Drynan said he has to watch how much water or coffee he drinks before he sits down in the Santa chair. He can’t always make it to the little elves’ room. Then there’s the time Santa fell off the fire truck.

“I missed the first step and went down on the ground and stood up and gave a ho-ho-ho, and checked my candy canes,” Drynan said.

For Drynan, being Santa gives him a gift each year.

“The best thing about being Santa is, no matter how I feel before I put on the suit, nobody knows who you are, and I’m a kid again,” he said.

Drynan is a master at getting people to believe in the myth, even if for just a few minutes. He said he could never be a “mall” Santa. It wouldn’t allow him to spend time talking with kids and letting them recite their carefully crafted lists.

Drynan remembers one little boy who came for many years to see Santa and carried a long list, complete with carefully glued pictures of each item. Last year, one child brought a binder filled with dreams for under the tree.

“He did it to make it easier for Santa to look at,” he said.

For the less brave, Drynan has a technique to get kids to laugh, especially after the 1996 fire and flood, when Santa visited with 104 youngsters that year.

“I get people to sit on my lap, talk to kids and ask, ‘When’s the last time you bounced on Santa’s knee?’ I bounce them, and they start to laugh. We take the picture.”

The pictures are a big part of Santa’s workshop, which consists of Mrs. Claus, a Christmas background, candy canes, a digital camera, printer and stacks of photo paper. Those who sit on Santa’s lap, whether they have two legs or four, can have their picture taken with St. Nick for a donation that goes to the North Fork Volunteer Fire Department.

Drynan said most of the proceeds go to help the department. The rest goes for photo paper, print cartridges and, every couple of years, a new printer. He estimates that he and Mrs. Claus produce about 1,000 photographs a year, along with handing out 1,500 candy canes.

He said he’s been part of family pictures, once with a dog, a few cats and a mule. Drynan said they stepped outside for that picture.

“Santa doesn’t stay stationary. He goes where there’s a need,” he said.

Drynan said he has helped raise more than $16,000 for the fire department.

Drynan’s other big expense is his velvety suit, white beard and black patent-leather accoutrements. He said the original suit cost just over $200 about 20 years ago. Suits today cost $300 to $1,000, he said.

“I definitely got my money out of it,” he said. “It surprises me. It’s still going strong.”

Drynan is a little worried about finding a suitable replacement for himself. He doesn’t want to ruin a holiday tradition for many families.

“There are people who come from Kansas to get a tree, but they really come to see Santa,” he said.

Drynan is hoping a little Christmas magic will come his way. In the meantime, he quickly changed the subject, and Santa wanted to know what I want for Christmas. I’m afraid I came up with somewhat traditional answers — prosperity, good health and miracle cures, an easy-to-follow diet and maybe, if Santa has time, Tom Selleck’s phone number.

Contact Barbara Ford at barbara@evergreenco.com or 303-350-1043. Check
www.HighTimberTimes.com for updates.

Santa will be at the North Fork Volunteer Fire Department Station 1,19384 Highway 126, near the Christmas tree cutting area in the Pike National Forest. Santa will arrive by fire truck at Chilifest at 10 a.m. and stay until 2 p.m. Nov. 26, 27 and 28, and Dec. 4, 5,11 and 12. Donations are appreciated for photos with Santa.

This story ran in the November 24, 2010 edition of the High Timber Times. The photo that accompanied the story is one of me and Santa, taken at last year's Chilifest. I'm not printing it here. If you want to see it, go to the Canyon Courier office and look in the dusty archives.