Santa in 2020 Brings Awareness to Inmates

The sounds of the season, both artificial and real, were still audible in the eloquently donned department store as the young clerk dressed as an elf captured the last photograph of Santa with a child on his lap. It was Christmas Eve and time for everyone to go home, including Santa. She watched as he stood up from his throne-like red velvet chair, put his white-gloved hands on his oversized belt, and he took in the familiar scenery - the cotton candy-like snow draped around the trunks of artificial evergreens on either side of him, the baskets full of jingle bells and candy canes he used to calm the smaller children, the large shiny ornaments hanging from ceiling tiles, and the life-size gingerbread house behind him. She, too, looked around, simultaneously admiring her detailed costume from her pointed ears down to her pointed shoes. Santa took one last deep breath, tears fogging his eyes. Another season, come and gone. 

She turned the knob to the gingerbread house and Santa followed behind, his face downcast. When they were out of sight of any lingering children, he took off his hat, wringing it in his hands. She saw the sudden misery sweep across his face, wished him a Merry Christmas, and told him how perfectly he played the Santa part.  He thanked her, knowing she wouldn’t understand that this was more than a role to play for him. As he stepped through the exit door, the magic stayed behind him. He was now just an old man, and a lonely one at that. Being Santa not only gave children joy, but also the man dressed up in the well-known suit. He felt alive with the seemingly never-ending lines, like he’d been given a giant family, most of which loved him at first sight. He climbed into his sedan, saddened that the only Christmas he would experience in 2019, was over. He had no idea that 2020 wouldn’t offer him the one Christmas he depended on. 

Due to COVID-19, like most things in 2020, the Santa experience will look very different this year. Children will no longer be able to hug Santa or get anywhere close to sitting on his lap. Being a lover of Christmas, I began brainstorming ways that Santa could still appear in the public malls and department stores. Feeling for the Santa depicted above, I thought of a glass box Santa could sit in. Children would stand in line to be able to place their hand on the glass with Santa’s hand just on the other side. The idea reminded me of a similar experience at the zoo in the orangutan or gorilla exhibit, making it feel less human. 

I kept pondering, and a telephone system came to mind where Santa could pick up the phone on his side and a child could talk into a speaker system or on a phone attached to the outside of the box. I was smiling at the thought of this, thinking I’d just saved Christmas. When I quickly realized, that’s how prison inmates have to operate with visitors, and not just because of COVID-19. Depending on the correctional facility, differing visiting protocols exist, but my heart still sank. I thought not only of the men who love becoming Santa Claus for a few months out of the year, but of the many people in prison who will not receive an in-person visit or a hug from family members this Christmas. Even if they do receive visitors, many will have to social distance or talk through what I thought was my inventive Santa experience. 

I wasn’t the only one who was thinking of Santa in 2020. According to CNN, malls have devised plans where Santa will be in a snowglobe, behind plexiglass in a sleigh, available for Zoom calls, and more socially distant interactions. Bass Pro Shops also plans to use plexiglass in their Santa Wonderland with extra safety measures in place, including appointment-only visits, temperature screenings, and sanitizing. 

This Christmas, whether you are the Santa who depends on human interaction in these winter months, a parent who desperately needs the season of magic and hope this year, an inmate or a friend or relative of an inmate who hasn’t had a visit in much too long, know that COVID-19 cannot take away Christmas. It cannot take away hope. While it may change many things, it’s also showing the reality of how many people have had to operate this way pre-pandemic. Let’s not miss what awareness we have gained and remain the same because of it. Instead, while following safety guidelines, let’s give an extra effort this year to extend Christmas joy past the restraints of social distancing. 

Bass Pro, S. (2020, October). Santa's Wonderland 2020: Bass Pro Shops. Retrieved November 01, 2020, from https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/santas-wonderland

Kavilanz, P. (2020, October 07). A very Covid Christmas: Mall Santas will see kids from     behind plexiglass snowglobes. Retrieved October 31, 2020, from https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/07/business/santa-mall-pandemic/index.html

Turcotte, M., & Seline, L. (2020, October 01). Federal Prisons Will Let Inmates Have Visitors During Pandemic. Retrieved November 01, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/01/us/federal-prisons-visits-coronavirus.html