October 31 – Sunday……….Happy Halloween!!!
The mall meeting went as expected with the exception we met the brand new general manager. He seems to have been around the ‘mall’ business for a few years and is willing to think “outside the box” re problems. The marketing manager is the same from last year. The ‘hovel’, ‘cave’, change room is also the same – a large storage ‘room’ housing blueprints of the mall and having no water, sewer, or electricity.
We have asked that the room be ready for me ASAP. It only needs a large piece of carpeting, a space heater, an additional table, a couple of chairs, general cleaning (as this place is rarely used and houses only old blueprints, you can only imagine what the air quality is like, plus dirt, melge, and ++dust), a clothes rack, a coffee table, and assorted other things. We also got dates for “Wake Up Santa” and other possible media opportunities. Looks like we have a season people!!!
Set looks great….. a few less trees but that may change in the next couple of days. Photo stuff is in and ready to go. Supplies are all laid in. We even have a couple of boxes extra of candy canes!!!! Ed got his orientation re working on the set and running the cash register. Set manager and Ross have had a couple of tête-à-têtes.
November 4 – Thursday
Today was supposed to be fairly relaxed so Ross can conserve some energy. Unfortunately the room is not ready for us, the mall admin has been concentrating on getting the set ready. Ross throws a hissy fit and finally (at 6PM) the room is ready. Although we have to say that all requirements that we wanted are in place and the room is clean. We move outfits, etc into the place and think we are ready to rumble. By the way, have we told you that Ed has been invited to work on set part time?? Probably will be brought onto the set in the later part of the season when everyone is needed for crowd control.
The dogs have been less than enthused that we have been taking off every day without them, but now the season has started they should be getting their three or four daily walks. Mojo is looking forward to seeing “his” squirrel again and Teddy looks forward to any outing. We have also asked about someone in the park that would be able to take them out for a quick piddle when both of us are working – there seems to be a couple of people available.
WiFi problems seem to have corrected themselves – we took the computer out on the patio and we got screaming hot connectivity – go figure.
Ed signed up at a local gym just around the corner. This company has 4 gyms in
So tomorrow (Nov 5) we open the season………wish us luck!!!!!
Nov 7 – Sunday
Opening day on the 5th (Friday) was a hoot. It was a ‘soft’ opening so all kinks can be worked out, signals between Santa and the crew can be finalized, get all the electronics working the way they are supposed to, and “test the waters”. Well, we not only got off to a great start, I think we surprised everyone – one of the best openings ever!! Lots of people in the mall, and they are buying. Hopefully this is not a fluke and bodes well for the season.
Saturday (the real opening) we saw much the same as Friday. And we went WAY over our goal!!! Lots and lots of good kids, some with some very interesting requests – “one of your reindeer”, “a unicorn”, “my mother who died a couple of months ago”, “full recovery from breast cancer for our friend”, “a puppy”, “peace and love for my whole family……and get my family back together again”, etc.
Sunday (the short day – only 6 hours but also only one break) was great. We may not have broken any records re goals but we still had lots of laughs. Like the young teen girl sneaking around the corner to catch a glimpse of Santa without him seeing….then being totally surprised that Santa had chosen that moment to stretch his legs and grab a sip or two of water. She was so surprised that Santa was actually “waiting” for her, she stopped, looked at Santa, and screamed!!! We had a couple of children that walked away from their parents and appeared on set – so had to have security take care of them until the terrified parents could be found.
For those of you not familiar with what happens on a Santa set – here is Ross’ day in a nutshell:
10AM – arrive at the change room (more about the change room later) and get ready and into Santa outfit
11AM – make entrance (ensuring that the new bell strap that Buck and Bruce gave Ross for his birthday is not too loud)
11 – 1 – greet children, listen to their wishes, answer questions, ask questions, sit for photos, STAY IN CHARACTER AT ALL TIMES, make sure crew is happy and working well.
1 – 1:45 – lunch with Ed back at the cave (change room)
1:45 – 4:30 – more sitting for photos, asking and answering questions, etc
4:30 – 5:15 – coffee with Ed and sometimes the dogs
5:15 – 8:00 – more of the same
8PM – Ed picks Ross up at the change room and home; have a drink, then dinner, a bit of email, bed
So while Ross is doing “his thing” what is Ed doing?? Good question. He has most mornings at the gym (and ogling the good looking people), then answering his emails, making lunch and dinner for Ross and himself, laundry, taking the dogs for walkies,……..OH, and today he went to a winery (Quady) for a tasting and to pick up some Elysium…black Muscat dessert wine…yumm!!!! AND to buy a ticket for the Madera Wine Trail Celebration next week. Includes special events at about nine
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