Vernon Hill seemed destined to be Santa’s helper.
After all, he was born on Christmas Day, 1953.
Hill hears hundreds of requests in his role as Santa. He’ll be in his house in downtown Iola one last time from 5 to 7 p.m. this coming Thursday.
This year the most common plea for gifts are iPods and American Girl dolls.
“Quite a few little girls also say they want a Barbie,” he said, of the doll that dates backs to the late 1950s.
Hill isn’t sure how many kids who crawl onto his lap still believe, but they are more truthful than some might think, he said. “When I ask if they’ve been good, many of them say, ‘I try.’”
Hill said he had developed a way to give encouragement or not to gift requests.
“I look at the parents and lots of times I get a ‘yes’ nod,” he said. “If not, I say, ‘We’ll do what we can.’”
Santa visitors aren’t just youngsters, although most are 12 or younger, Hill estimated.
“I have adults occasionally who want to get their picture taken with Santa. Until she died (in September 2010) my mom had her picture taken with Santa every year,” he said.
At the other end of the spectrum, Hill remembers a two-week-old baby plopped on his lap for a photo.
“I was nervous holding that little baby,” he said.
His most memorable experience as Santa was at the old Iola Walmart.
“When I asked this little girl what she wanted for Christmas, she said she wanted Santa to make her mom well,” he said. “It was hard to hold back the tears. I knew her mother and that she had terminal cancer.”
The woman died two weeks before Christmas.
HILL GOT his start in 1975 when a family friend mentioned that McDonald’s restaurant was looking for someone to play Santa.
