I didn't give much thought to creating an archive I could pull things from my first season of being Santa. The majority of questions I thought I'd be asked could be easily dismissed with a simple answer and I didn't have to worry about going into too much detail because of that. Even with my own opinions I didn't preach those to the choir for there was no need to.
A prime example of what I'm talking about can be found in the question and answer:
"Where are your reindeer?"
"Well, they only fly on Christmas Eve, hence I arrived in a borrowed car." (or something of that nature)
Now, I believe that, in reality, if flying reindeer only had one day a year they could practice their flying and that day was the same day of most importance, it would be detrimental. That's like saying "memorize your lines, blocking, and tech before the performance!" without ever having dress rehearsals. And that's with humans, think about how difficult it would be to train animals AND how to fly.
So, no, I don't believe the reindeer can only fly on Christmas eve, that's madness. But I didn't have to worry about that my first Christmas season. My mind was far from that. In the following months, however, things did change. I saw the need of an archive from which I could pull things from. I saw the need of a backstory.
Without a backstory, many different questions can (and most likely will) stump Santa Claus.
I have found that, with a backstory, I can leave behind much anxiety about tricky questions. Everything has a place in my own Santa Claus world: and it's ever changing. Before, any answer to satisfy the child's curiousity was enough. After a few of the same questions from different children, one usually settles on a "go-to" answer for that. Thus, the backstory is born. With a backstory, continuity is involved and you begin to paint a picture of why things are the way things are at the North Pole and how you can bring that to life through stories and performance skills.
I made a video for YouTube ages ago in which I shared the importance of having a backstory. Since the pandemic season, I've had little chance or need to embellish and polish out more of it as much as I would like to. I do have some ideas of my version of Santa Claus and how everything works. I don't go around saying I'm St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas Day is December 6th and celebrates his death. Therefore (in my opinion) it would be unfounded for anyone to claim they were without involving some proof otherwise and I cannot speak Greek nor am I Catholic. An important aspect of my portrayal is succession.
From a long line of gift-givers we have arrived at yours truly. I'll explain more in this week's episode, I would love to hear your thoughts on it.
Santa Apprentice & Ambassador level members you can watch this week's episode here: Season 02. Those of you who would also like to view it without a paid membership, please subscribe to the YouTube channel. I made a promise to upload a follow-up video to a previous backstory video and this episode may fulfill that promise.
Yours as always,
Santa Stuart
