Santa Worries!

Posted by Vulnadia on Nov 19, 2009 at 07:29 AM So, early reports state that Santa's Elves will be screening the Santa line for sick kiddos to try & keep Santa from getting sick. They report plans of wearing latex gloves under their suits, and amped up hygeine combatants such as having their suits cleaned daily in addition to hand santitizer use. What do you think? Have you ever really thought of this before? I know it never occurred to me that it would be any different from any other public job. But seriously, I feel they have a point. But, the question is, what happens if Santa's Elves deny your child access to that coveted visit because your child "Looks" sick? In a line often full of aprehensive and often impatient (due to long lines especially) children who are in various states of excitement and often crying (which leads to runny noses and sniffling etc) what would constitute "Sick" looking? Would you and or your child be disapointed if denied an audience with Santa? How would you handle the situation? Every Mom knows the horrible feeling we get when our kids are disapointed ESPECIALLY with something as sacred & important as sitting on Santa's knee. Would you be able to be nice and calm about it? I mean, yes, I believe it is a good idea to some extent, but will there be problems? Will there be mistakes? We all know that the Elves aren't always tactful and although they do have a high stress job of sorts, they often are disgruntled and less than nice at times due to sheer volume and weight of the holidays involved! So what do you think? How would you handle this sort of situation??? Mall Santas Fear Swine Flu Santa with a potential swine flu carrier. Photo: Karen Bleier, Getty Images Mall Santas put up with a lot, but this year, they are demanding protection: According to the Sacramento Bee, Santa is asking to be approved to receive the early H1N1 vaccine. You really can't blame the Santas! Imagine facing down hundreds of sniffling, sneezing, hygiene-challenged kids, all of whom want to rub their germy selves on your fuzzy red suit -- well, except for the ones who are terrified and crying, but that's a different mall Santa story. All you have to protect yourself is a bottle of hand sanitizer, and the hope that the really sick ones will stay home. That's not much in the face of swine flu. As Sacramento-based Santa Daniel Gromer told the Sacramento Bee, "Santa can't deliver toys if he's sick." We don't know if the CDC is listening, but having seen "The Year Without A Santa Claus" many times, we can say Amen to that! Some Santas are taking precautions, like wearing latex gloves under their Santa costume gloves and washing their suits every day. They're having their elves "screen" the line for kids who look ill, and encouraging liberal use of hand sanitizer. But many mall Santas are fearful that this won't be enough to prevent the spread of H1N1, and they want to be vaccinated. Unfortunately, unless Santa has a condition, like asthma, that puts him at risk for complications from the flu, he'll have to wait until after Thanksgiving to get the H1N1 shot, just like the rest of us. Even if he can't get the early vaccine, Daniel Gromer isn't going to let Flu Fear keep him from his holiday duties. As he told the Sacramento Bee, the kids "look forward to Christmas all year, and I can't let them down." The bottom line, though, seems to be this: "I don't want people to stay away from Santa," Gromer explained, "but they need to bring their kids in healthy." A hearty ho ho ho to that. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Community Theater, Stage Work, Haunted Attractions, Shocktale Terror Show,GLP, Gas Light Players, Renaissance Festivals, Writing, Directing,Acting, Sewing, Literature, Art & Music.