“I’m old and chubby, I’ve got a beard and a good laugh,” were the qualities one of the four Richmond Mall Santas believed he had to suit up for the role.
‘Santa Mark’ says he has always loved the holiday season and seeing Santa during his childhood, and when news broke that New Zealand’s shopping malls were suffering Santa shortages, he contacted Richmond Mall to fill any potential Santa space.
“‘It’s Christmas, everybody should see Santa… I met all the prerequisites, I’m old and chubby and I’ve got a beard and a good laugh, so it fits my character,” he says.
“It’s nice to be able to give back and keep that Christmas spirit… for some kids it might be their first Christmas and [first time seeing] Santa, you can see it in their eyes, they look at you as if you’ve just floated down from heaven, it’s very special.
“There’s that innocence about Christmas, which I’ve rediscovered being Santa.”
Santa Mark, who lives at Ruby Bay, says children had gifted him wonderful memories thus far.
“Some of the kids want exorbitant presents, which is very funny because I like to see the look on the parents faces when [the kids] tell me they want a motorised skateboard or an iPhone 11,” he says.
“I say, ‘you could wish for that and good luck, but would you also be happy with some chocolate or comics?’ and they say, ‘oh, yes’.
“Kids these days have got quite a good head on their shoulders, they’ve got good empathy, and it was also nice to hear that some of them don’t know what they want for Christmas.”
Santa Mark says his character had also been tested by Richmond Mall Santa pundits.
“One of the kids came up to me and she was a very serious young girl. She pulled my beard down and said ‘you’re not as old as last year’s Santa’, and I said ‘I’ve been on holiday and I’ve had some rest,’ and she took that at face value,” he says.
“I haven’t had any tricky questions yet, but I would certainly handle them from a point of being a parent myself.
“My message to children would be to just create some happy memories that are not necessarily related to presents.
“I know that that’s hard for a child to understand, but we’re not all going to be together forever.”
The 61-year-old says he’ll resuit for the 2024 Christmas season.
“I’m going to get some good memories from this and hopefully some good stories to tell.”
