Santa Also Speaks Spanish
Posted by Jackie Guzman on December 19, 2008 at 03:24pm
Every year, thousands of places are filled with children who are looking for Santa to give him their letter. A letter saying that they behaved well during the year and they ask for toys in return.
Everybody knows that in many places Santa speaks only English. However, I discovered that Santa does speak Spanish! And he makes thousands of Latino children and parents very happy knowing they can communicate with him.
Being close to Christmas Eve, Santa has been very busy. I scheduled the interview in advance hoping that the thousands of children waiting for him would not get mad at me. After all, everybody wants to know how Santa manages so much work.
At the beginning of the interview, Santa was in Georgia. He said he was arriving from his joyful job with the elves making new toys. After taking out his boots and grabbing a cup of hot cocoa he started telling me how his job started and why he loves Christmas so much.
“When I was a young man, I hated to shave my beard,” says Santa. Therefore, he started to let it grow and he liked it. It made him look original.
During Christmas time Santa loves the children’s visits. He counts about 200 to 400 visits every day. “Children’s ages go from 4 days old to 100 years old,” he says.
He also highlights the importance of speaking with children in their native language. “They feel more comfortable.” Santa speaks many languages, including Spanish. He says Latino children are very bright and he has found out that many of them are very polite. “It may be a cultural thing,” he said.
Santa recalls the recent experience where he made a Hispanic family very happy. The daughter approached him and he asked what she wanted for Christmas. “The girl did not understand and I asked her in Spanish the same question, her face lit up and she started requesting a lot of gifts.” Santa says the family was very surprised and started clapping because he was speaking Spanish.
In the middle of the interview Santa left saying he had to go visit the children in the West Coast. He apologized but said he would get back to me soon. After four days of waiting, I heard from him again. He was very polite and he told me about his experience with low income families.
“When I go to small cities like Yolo County, in northern California, me and Mrs. Claus get help from local merchants to make goodie bags for needy children, mostly Latinos.” After filling the bags with fruits, candies and small toys they go to the rural areas and visit the children of farmers—about 12-15 families in the county—who enjoy the visit of Santa at home.
Santa has noticed that many Latino children—mainly recent immigrants—do not understand much the purpose of visiting him. “One time a Latino child approached me and I asked what he wanted, he starred at the Christmas tree and said ‘I want candies.’ What else I said and he said ‘nothing else.”
Santa says when he is visiting children across the country he often encounters very difficult requests, “one girl asked me one time to bring his mom and dad together, that is something I can’t do, but I can offer my prayers.”
Santa has experienced also many funny stories, “one time a kid said ‘you have a foamy beard’ and I said, well why don’t you come and check if its foam, then he looked closer and said, ‘is growing right out your face,’”
Santa says among the most popular toys for Latino children are cars, trains and the Josefina Montoya doll. Santa says he does see a difference among the children who ask for gifts. Latino children tend to ask for less expensive toys. They will be happy with a car, a Thomas
train or a Barbie doll.
After all, the most important thing of the Christmas season is that everybody can share quality time with family and friends. Santa always recommends children to stay out of trouble, and be happy.
Again, Santa had to run back to work, but before he left he said, “Remember to keep the twinkle in your eye, and merry Christmas to all! Ho, ho, ho!”
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