The Santa Experience

You'll never guess who was Santa at our work Christmas parties.

The problems began when I was changing into my Santa outfit. It was at our kids Christmas Party, where about a hundred students and their parents sat inside some luxurious hall. I was crammed in a 1m x 1m booth further down the corridor, trying to stuff myself into the jolly man's red-felt clothes. Reiko, who was keeping watch just outside, knocked on the door. Turns out this booth wasn't a good place to change, as it was right next to the toilets. This was a mission of utmost secrecy and importance. I was already half-scared that I might slip up and ruin Christmas for a hundred hopeful kids.

So we ran. Reiko in the lead, of course, with me galloping along behind, only half-Santa at this point. We bolted through the fancy hotel, past the hall where everyone was talking loudly, and around the corner. Phew. No one saw me. I finished getting changed quickly, and Reiko told me to stay put while she prepared the hall for my merry entrance. I was alone, and I waited. But then I heard a small voice coming down the opposite hallway, talking to her mother. I didn't dare peek, but I knew it was a young girl making her way back to the hall. And in seconds they were going to see me.

I didn't know what to do. I couldn't run back, at even higher risk of being seen. There was nowhere to hide. I had no choice but to wait, until the girl (Saya, about four-years-old) and her mother rounded the corner and found me. It was too early! I tried to hide my face, which was pretty pointless, seeing as I was clearly dressed as the big red man himself.

Saya kind of stumbled a bit when she saw me, her eyes went wide with embarrassed amazement, and her little voice gasped: "Santa-san!" (Mr Santa.) I forced a muffled "Ho ho ho! See you later!" as her smiling mother tried to lead Saya back into the party hall.

About two minutes later I was jogging through a hall packed with cheering kids and echoing with Jingle Bells. It was something really special. So many kids were reaching out desperately so they could touch the hand of this magical, this wondrous man. Some of the older kids were... more skeptical. Phil told me later that one of my 9-year-old students, an awesome and incredibly smart boy named Hideki, was screaming out, "Lie Santa! Lie Santa! It's Brendan!"

Sure enough, before class today, Hideki cornered me and said, "You are Santa! At the Christmas party, no Brendan, only Santa!"

I felt like a mouse at that party being stalked by a hawk. A number of my other students spent the afternoon looking at me weirdly, suspecting it was Brendan, yet their innocent hope unwilling to accept that so easily. Undecided doubt is the best I could've asked for from those kids. One of them even had a look which said: "I really hope you're Santa, because if you're Brendan, then both you and Santa have betrayed us all."

Interestingly, all it took was one look at me from my cute 4-year-old student Tsumugi (who refuses to let me teach a class without hugging my leg for at least half of it) to figure out that I was "Gurendan-sensei", because she can't pronounce my name properly.