St. Nicholas of the 21st Century By John Buckreis ST. NICHOLAS OF THE 21st CENTURY ST. NICHOLAS OF THE 21st CENTURY By JOHN BUCKREIS Illustrated By Tom Harley Copyright © 200$ by John Buckreis All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any informational storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from copyright owner. First Edition 2008 IV Dedication I dedicate this book to all the children and parents in the world and especially to my children and grandchildren. Special Acknowledgements Special thanks to Sally Dimond for her patience and professionalism working with me to produce this book. My writing, re-writing and re­ writing were challenges she handled with a smile. Also I want to thank all the camera people who worked for Santa over the years, and a very special thanks to Peter McCourt, my Chief Elf and camera expert. Peter has worked with Santa faithfully for over ten years. Santa knew the day would go smoothly when the Chief Elf Pete was on the job. I also want to thank Don, Mary, Dan, Jim, Matt, Lorrie, Kathy, John and Boomer for the hours they put in as carpenters, painters, camera staff, sound system experts and even dressing up in elf costumes in their early days working with Santa. Last but not least a special thanks to Fischers Hardware, Springfield Bicycle Shop, Springfield Pet Shop, Cappers Nursery, Burke Garden Center and Merrifield Garden Center, particularly Merrifield where Santa has been for the last 25 years. V CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE - Do You Know Him Page 1 CHAPTER TWO - His First Job Page 16 CHAPTER THREE - John Goes Away Page 29 CHAPTER FOUR - NATIONS DAY Parade Page 46 CHAPTER FIVE - Land of GOSH Page 53 CHAPTER SIX - Santa’s Headquarters Page 67 CHAPTER SEVEN - The Meaning of Christmas Page 74 VII Prologue I wrote this story at the request of so many wonderful parents who have been bringing their children and grandchildren to see Santa Claus. They encouraged me to tell the story of my experiences with the children. So I put together an autobiographical account of my life. I wove together truth, fiction, surprises, mystery, magic, religion and mythology in such a way as to prevent the reader from being bored. The story is set as a potential screen play, which in fact it could be. I have several boxes of letters, notes and photographs from my wonderful fans, young and old. With over sixty years of fan mail, it would be impractical to put them all in this book; however, I thought it wise and proper to show you some of them. At the end of my story I included about thirty letters. Some are light and happy, and some obviousfy have a story behind them. I have received wonderful gifts over the years, such as statues, books, paintings, handmade quilts, pillows, tapes and, in some cases, money which, of course, went to those in need. I did not list or give the names of the gift^givers for that is personal and of course appreciated, ft is at this time I want to make a public statement to all the families who visited with me: Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! — for all the happiness you gave me through your children and yourselves. I think I got the best of the deal over the past 60 plus years. Thank you. I hope you enjoy my story. Merry Christmas, IX ST. NICHOLAS OF THE 21st CENTURY XI ST. NICHOLAS OF THE 21st CENTURY Chapter One This story takes place in the Metropolitan area of Northern Virginia. There are people from all walks of life reading The Washington Post newspaper. They are at the bus stop and on the subway train and some at home at their kitchen table. As they brows through the paper, a photo on the top page of the Metro Section catches their eye. It is a picture of Santa Claus, and the caption beneath it reads “Do you know him?” The article under the picture reads: “The Broad Spectrum Production Company intends to produce a movie about this mysterious and unusual Santa Claus. It has been said he has appeared in hardware stores and garden centers in Northern Virginia for over 30 years. Rumors have it he is also appearing in the Buffalo area, while some say he is really appearing in the Midwest What makes this story of Santa so intriguing is that everyone we talk with says he is the real Santa. We know he can *t be in all these places at once but he certainly has become a legend in and around the Washington market area. We would like to get to the truth, so if you. know anything about this legendary Santa, and if you have a story to tell, please contact the Broad Spectrum Production Company. We will have an “open to the public” meeting on August 15th from 9:00 AM till 10:00 PM at our 1201 Lexington location in Annandale, Virginia. We will need your help with stories and pictures about this most unusual man. ” August 15th arrived and everyone at the production studio was looking forward to a good turnout. (Little did they know what was about to happen.) A parade of cars pulled into the parking lot at 8:30 in the morning, and by 9:15 the lot was full. Droves of people showed up. The phones were ringing non-stop and e-mails flowed like a river. The owner and director of the production company, Wayne Harmon, founded the company fourteen years ago and made several documentaries, two full movies, and a few short movies for television. Wayne is a slightly-built man in his fifties, with long black hair kept in place in a ponytail tied with a thin red ribbon. He has a distracting habit of adjusting his thick glasses with his left hand, removing the glasses and replacing them as he talks. His assistant Ted Fleming is a tall, handsome man in his mid-thirties. His sandy red hair is rarely combed. Ted is possessed with cameras and seems to be always preoccupied taking pictures with his extremely small camera. The screen writer for the company is Mary Ann McGraw. Mary Ann is a petite lady in her mid-forties, with a fetish for large, dangling earrings and very colorful clothes. She is rarely seen without her clipboard and tape recorder. Wayne is barking orders to other employees: “More chairs! More chairs! Quickly! Quickly!” 1 The bedlam of noise made by the people and the moving of metal chairs came to a slow halt when Wayne tapped his gavel a few times on the podium. Wayne began: “I want to thank all of you for coming today. I apologize for the inconvenience. This room was designed for forty and it looks like we have well over one hundred people here. We are getting more chairs, so bear with us. “Now, as you know from the newspaper article, we intend to produce a movie or a documentary about this mysterious man. Before we start, let me introduce myself and my staff. I’m Wayne Harman, the president and founder of Broad Spectrum Production Company, and on my left is my number one, ace cameraman who has been with me for nine years, Ted Fleming. On my right is Mary Ann McGraw, my very capable, irreplaceable screen writer who has been with me since day one.” Ted and Mary Ann stood up, took a little bow and sat down. Wayne continued: “Ladies and gentleman, I think the best way to get started is to ask “Who in this room has known this mystery man the longest?” Hands went up all over the room and some people shouted “I’ve known him for five years.” Others hollered “ten...”, “fifteen...”, and “twenty years.” It sounded like bidding at an auction. Mary Ann was taking notes as fast as possible. Wayne called out, “Where is the person who shouted ‘twenty years’? Please come forward.” As the man worked his way up front, another man from way in the back hollered out: “Now just a minute, just a minute.” He waved his cane in the air and shuffled his way up to the podium. “I’ve known this here Santa Claus you’re talking about since he and I were fourteen years old — and I’m eighty years old.” The crowd hushed and Wayne said, “Really! Wow! Come on up here and tell us about it. Come — please come.” Shuffling his way, using his cane for balance, a bent-over, thin man emerged from the crowd. “Well, now let me tell you.... He and I were fourteen years old at the time, and he and I lived in St. Joseph’s Orphanage just outside of Buffalo, New York.” Wayne interrupted: “Could you tell us your name, please, so we can have it on record?” “Oh yes. My name — sorry about that — my name is John Buckreis — ‘Dr. John’ to most people because I spent most of my life working with plants and diagnosing problems. People gave me that nick-name. Now, where was I? Oh, yes - let me tell you about my dear friend — this Santa that you want to know about.” Again Wayne interrupted: “Could you tell us the name of your friend that you speak of?” The old man bowed down his head of white hair, shuffled his feet, and then he raised his cane in the air.