The Impact of Giving Back to Uplift Spirits: A Conversation with Santa Claus

Transcript

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The views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the podcast host and guest and do not necessarily represent those of our distribution partners, supporting business relationships or supported audience.

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Welcome to Transacting Value, where we talk about practical applications for instigating self-worth when dealing with each other and even within ourselves, when we foster a podcast listening experience that lets you hear the power of a value system for managing burnout, establishing boundaries, fostering community and finding identity.

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My name is Josh Porthouse, I'm your host and we are redefining sovereignty of character.

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This is why values still hold value.

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This is Transacting Value.

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I found out that helping other people helped me more than it was actually helping them, because I felt better about myself, and if you don't do things that make yourself feel good about yourself, it's hard to help anybody else.

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Today on Transacting Value.

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What impact can identity have during the Christmas season?

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And, maybe more importantly, how do you know you've even been a good boy or a good girl the entire season, or maybe the entire year, for our annual Christmas special?

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Please welcome our honored guest, who made time in his busy schedule to enhance and inspire humanity around the world.

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You may know him as Kris Kringle, papa Noel.

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I call him Santa Claus.

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My name is Josh Portals, I'm your host and from SDYT Media.

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This is Transacting Value, santa.

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Welcome to the show.

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Ho, ho ho.

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How are you, josh?

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Nice to be here.

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I appreciate you taking time, especially right now.

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We're so close to the holidays.

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I can only imagine your elves and the shift work, and everything you're trying to manage is just chaos.

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We have a well-oiled machine in process.

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I have a few minutes I can take out for a good cause.

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Yeah, I appreciate that, and I guess you've had a couple hundred or a couple thousand runs at this by now.

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So you guys are essentially professionals.

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Exactly.

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Yeah, we bring on the new folks now and then, but they're well-trained and, like I said, it's a well-oiled machine.

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Sure, so let's do this for a little bit of resonance here, if you want to take the next couple minutes.

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What is life like as Santa Claus?

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The whole world knows you and nobody gets to know you?

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That's kind of a hard question to answer.

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To be honest, it's a calling.

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There's no other way to describe it.

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In my case, that could be a totally different case for another gentleman donning the red suit.

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In my case, it's something that I was called to do.

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You could actually do it with that nice beard you have.

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You've obviously got the beard.

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You've got the heart for it.

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It's an idea.

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The character represents kindness, generosity and hope and family and values and tradition.

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As one of the people that's honored enough to be able to wear this suit and actually be believable in character and I'm in character pretty much all year, even though I live in Florida when I'm not working at the North pole Nice, it is snowbird season that it is.

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We've got a lot of traffic.

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Thankfully I have a sleigh.

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There you go.

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Yeah, I imagine there's a fair amount of coordination now with the Aviation Administration and the Strait Goose every now and again, but traffic can't be near as bad up there as it is down here.

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No, no, no, it's not.

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No, no, no, it's not.

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So that's good.

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Now you've become sort of a legend in your own right.

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I mean, you grew up as a little boy in a village, living life, and now you have inspired the world over as sort of lore and legend and, like you said, the spirit of Christmas, that's a lofty weight on your shoulders.

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How's that feel?

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It's not really a weight, it's a pleasure, it's an honor, it's a privilege.

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St Nicholas of Myra was born to a wealthy family and he actually dropped gold into stockings of young ladies in a village that he lived in because the parents didn't have a dowry.

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He was being generous to them without letting anybody know it, and that's what the spirit of St Nicholas, santa Claus, papa Noel, that's what the spirit of Santa Claus is.

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People like me portray that spirit.

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Santa Claus is a 1400 and some odd year old man and his spirit lives through me in that suit.

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He lives through every kid of all ages that smiles at me when I look at them, that he gets excited Christmas morning.

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Everybody that's not afraid to look into the sky and I believe that's gonna come in to bring them death.

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Because he is in my mind.

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He is Santa's a real thing.

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I'm a real thing.

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I think a lot of things happen because I'm santa, not because I'm tony sure, or, yeah, whoever else.

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now that I think interesting thing is, and the powerful thing is, you've got a lot of humanity to reconcile with.

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You know, it's not all goodness, it's not all necessarily kindness.

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I think everybody needs hope.

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It seems to me that that's what the spirit of Christmas stands for and gives people, despite wars, conflicts and all the sort of negative aspects of humanity too.

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How do you weigh against all of that?

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It can be an ugly world, man, it doesn't matter where you are.

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But I mean, all I can say is that there's no other time of year that we're closer as human beings to each other than we are during the Christmas holidays and the season For whoever.

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They're all pretty close to the same dates, so we're celebrating a lot of different religious and cultural holidays, not just Christmas.

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So I just think it's a beautiful thing.

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I wish Christmas was every month, so we were nice to each other all the time.

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Yeah, that would be good.

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And then with each different cultural interpretation of the legend and the lore and the spirit and the embodiment of the season, what does that feel like to be, that kind of global inspiration for change and positivity and unity?

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It fills my heart with joy.

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There's no other way to say it.

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It's the most wonderful thing there is Other than the birth of my children.

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There's no better thing.

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I wouldn't do anything else.

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I'm Santa.

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Yeah, let's talk, then, about that for a minute.

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As Santa, as the inspiration, whether you're working with people, helping to embody the spirit and get people involved, or get people inspired, or you're in your off time and you're with palm trees, or you're with family, or you're doing whatever you do the rest of the year.

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How did it start for you?

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Was it like?

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You know, you got bullied as a kid by other people and you're like I'm going to stand up for good, and it's this classic underdog story, or what caused you to take on this mantle and maintain it as a calling.

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I went through an injury that caused me to have to file for disability and during that process I stopped shaving for the first time ever.

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And this happened my beard was all big and giant and it came in pretty white.

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My only real source of joy at the time was talking to my kids and singing karaoke of all things, and the lady at my local vfw told me that I would make a good Santa if I got my beard trimmed because I looked like a mountain man at the time.

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I had gone two years, I think at the time, without shaving.

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So she said that her husband put on the suit yearly and he did a nursing home that took him about three hours every year and he was getting older.

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He said that if I would help him do that nursing home one night, that he would let me have his spare Santa suit, and I thought what a great story to tell the kids someday, the grandkids someday, right.

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So I went and got my beard trimmed up and had a little coloring done to it.

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It wasn't completely white, naturally, but I put on the suit and I looked like santa claus and a few really miraculous things happened that convinced me that I could do this, and I've been 110 percent ever since this is my eighth season in Asco County.

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I do a toy drive every year, but it started out as a one-night trip to a nursing home and my friend, he went into the cafeteria where the ambulatory patients were the patients that are healthy enough to move around and go in and have dinner and joke around and stuff.

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And I went room to room and I'm telling you it was a very natural thing for me for some reason.

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I mean, it was naturally easy, but it was one of the most emotionally difficult things I've ever done.

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What do you mean?

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Well, because these people were in.

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They're interned, they're in a bed, they're not taking showers every day, they're not getting their hair done, they're not getting their makeup, their nails, Some of them are sick, some of them are sleeping, some of them don't wanna be bothered, but all the ones that did every single one of them, wanted their picture with me, no matter what they looked like that night.

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It really made me understand that there is a circle of life.

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You start out as a child, you learn, you grow and you eventually become that child again.

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It's a beautiful thing because, from my point of view, I get to see that child in that 93-year-old lady.

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That's a powerful moment.

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Yeah, it's heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time.

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All right, folks, sit tight and we'll be right back on Transacting Value.

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She didn't just visit the sick and poor, she moved in with them.

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It wasn't convenient and it wasn't pretty, but they needed help.

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Twelve more then joined this saint of the gutters.

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They were soon followed by over 4,000 other nuns who gave healing care in orphanages, aids hospices and charity centers.

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Mother Teresa couldn't do it all, but she gave her all.

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Compassion is in you.

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Now pass it on from passitoncom.

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Yeah, it's heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time.

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Yeah, well, there's a lot of things.

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Obviously we can't do this as we get older, but those types of memories, those types of experiences, the core sort of moments, stick.

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I mean, that kind of an impact, to have that kind of an influence on somebody's life, doesn't happen every day, especially for a lot of people it's all unwitting.

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I mean that's a lot of power and capability to have to inspire people to that kind of a level.

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Yes, I try to be traditional in the sense that I respect the character very much, but I'm also a fairly nice guy even when I'm not in the suit, and that's a big change from what I was when I was younger.

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One of the reasons that I do what I do the way I do it is because when I was young we had a fairly big family and at Christmas time I was the oldest of eight kids and so there was four kids in my family, four kids in my mom's sister's family.

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So we had uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents and great grandparents, and I mean there were five generations of my family alive back then.

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And at some point back then and at some point my four foot nine redheaded great grandmother, joe, would go put on a Santa suit and come in and thinking back and being able to remember that, knowing how ridiculous she looked in that suit.

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But we all felt special.

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We all felt like, oh my gosh, our grandma knows Santa and actually got him to come to her house to visit us and it made us feel special.

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And I remember, of course, being the oldest.

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I remember one year thinking, wait a minute, santa's not four foot nine.

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I mean a lot of people have an idea of Santa from the movies and my idea of Santa is more from the actual story.

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So then, what is it about the story that inspires you?

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The fact that St Nicholas of Myra didn't search out recognition, adulation, compensation.

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He did it because he had a kind heart and it turned into a fable, if you will, and a tradition that I don't even know how the first actual man put on a red suit with a white beard and went in saying ho, ho, ho to kids.

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But St Nicholas of Myra is the inspiration for Chris Kringle.

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I mean, I've gotten to a point now where I'm kind of and I don't want to sound atheistical or crazy, because 2,000 followers on Facebook isn't anything nowadays, but I don't want to be viral Santa Claus on TikTok, and you know what I mean I don't I'm not looking for monetary gain.

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We'll say most of the money that I collect for anything I do goes into being able to do some good, good things for people.

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Like right now, I'm giving away two PlayStation 5s to a couple kids.

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It started out as one, but I got so many stories from so many people that with the hurricanes and so many people have lost everything, I broke down and bought another one.

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So I'm going to give away two, yeah, cool.

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You know there's operations like Operation Toy Soldier, for example.

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You mentioned the hurricanes here in Florida.

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Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton had a huge impact all around the Gulf Coast and obviously up into the southeastern region of the country.

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Operation Toy Soldier is a pretty sweet program.

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People can donate toys and then go to kids that lost everything in the storm, for example.

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What role do you see those types of operations or those types of opportunities having to complement the spirit of Christmas at various other times throughout the year when Christmas season is non-existent?

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I support anybody that helps kids through any kind of traumatic event.

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The hurricane's impacted me too, and I'm doing everything I'm doing this year out of one room and totes.

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So I get it.

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I understand what people are going through and a lot of these things that I'm doing now are really taking kids' and parents' minds off of all the trauma that's been going on for the past couple months.

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The toys for tots, the toys for what?

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Did you mention?

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Toys for toy soldiers?

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Operation Toy Soldier yeah, places like that, those are 501c3s.

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They're big, they're organized, they get toys to a lot of kids.

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I support them 100%.

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My father was a Marine, so Toys for Tots great.

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I do my own toy drive in town, but I do it at places that don't have a Toys for Tots box.

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You've basically got your own toy drive worldwide.

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Well, yeah, as Santa, yes, I do, yes, I do, yeah, and I'll be seeing everybody soon.

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Yeah, well, and that's something else too, right, because we talked about kids and we talked about toys, but when it comes to hope, I mean that brings people purpose and clarity and awareness and identity and worth all around the world.

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So what recommendations do you have or can you think of to help spread that reach a little bit further, because you can't wrap it in a box?

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A little goes a long way.

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Giving a little gives you a lot.

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Alrighty, folks sit tight, We'll be right back on Transacting Value.

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Alrighty folks, if you're looking for more perspective and more podcasts, you can check out Transacting Value on Reads Across America Radio.

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Listen in on iHeartRadio, odyssey and TuneIn.

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A little goes a long way.

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Giving a little gives you a lot.

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I found out when I was going through my depressing mood that I was in for a few years that started all this.

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I found out that helping other people helped me more than it was actually helping them, because I felt better about myself, and if you don't do things that make yourself feel good about yourself, it's hard to help anybody else get that same feeling for themselves.

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I struggle with self-confidence, but when I'm in that suit, I'm the man, I'm the number one person in the room.

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It's hard to explain.

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It really is.

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It's hard to explain.

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There's a lot of people that put on that suit that do it for the wrong reasons.

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I hope that people understand that I'm not one of those guys.

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Well, that's sort of the extent of humanity, I think.

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You know people do things for different reasons but despite good, bad or different, I think at least maybe a minimum at the end of the day, if it's inspiring people to be better or have some degree of identity or depth in their relationships you know, unity in their families, I mean, that's an incomparable ability to inspire and help somebody's, will grow.

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I mean, like we talked about war zones earlier, most of my career has been in the Marine Corps infantry and places where I've gone are not places where people would want to be on a regular basis, but people still live there, kids still grow up there, families still try to raise and educate and empower and encourage the next generation of whatever potential they have, with whatever capability they have.

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And in some cases, in some countries, like over the last 20 years or over the last 50 years, they've been at war the entire time.

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Yeah, so I think even in those darker moments of people trying to not necessarily cause problems but inadvertently stirring up conflict or causing wars in whatever sense, there's still a way to shine a light there.

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I believe that and I believe that war is caused by money, not by angry people.

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I think that being kind is a lot like yawning.

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When you see somebody do something kind, it makes you want to do it.

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You can see when somebody does something nice for somebody, you can see it in that person's face that did the nice thing.

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You can see it what their payoff is.

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And it's infective and it's affective Giving is way better than receiving a monetary or a physical thing.

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Well, so let me ask you this then the giving is sort of the offense, it's sort of the pre-impact of the present moment, right, the action, I suppose, of the present moment.

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Gratitude, I think, is the post-action of the present moment.

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You know, you appreciate what you got, or the sentiment or whatever, but I think gratitude and appreciation are very closely related, but not the same.

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I think gratitude is what you do about it Right, and they're both immediate reactions.

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Yeah, when you do something for somebody that appreciates it, they don't realize that they appreciate it 12 hours later.

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You see, they appreciate it right then.

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And giving doesn't have to be a tangible object.

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I can smile at a kid and they're.

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A lot of times their parents don't even realize that their kid's noticing me as santa, because when I'm not in that suit I look like just some regular guy with a white beard running around town.

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And there's a lot of us white bearded guys running around town.

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You're right, but I wouldn't know it until the season.

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It's like you guys just migrate and come out of thin air.

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Well, a lot of us are on disability, a lot of us have a Mrs Claus that keeps us at home because we like staying married and we like those chocolate chip cookies yeah, I bet, I bet.

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Well, let me ask you this then, when we're talking about cookies, what else do you like?

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You can't be a one trick, kind of reindeer, right?

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So chocolate chips, cool, but what are your other preferences?

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What do you like?

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I don't like anything with soft icing that can get in my white fur.

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Yeah, that makes sense.

00:24:18.269 --> 00:24:30.631
I'm not a huge fan of coconut or raisins in my cookies, although I do like coconut and raisins in other things my cookies.

00:24:30.631 --> 00:24:33.174
Although I do like coconut and raisins and other things, I like chocolate chip and chocolate chip.

00:24:33.174 --> 00:24:34.817
That's pretty much my favorite.

00:24:34.817 --> 00:24:39.411
No, how can you release a chocolate chip cookie and a nice glass?

00:24:39.530 --> 00:24:43.214
of cold milk absolutely so.

00:24:43.214 --> 00:24:54.366
Other cultures, other places around the world have all sorts of festivals and markets and it becomes a big physical thing occupying a physical space.

00:24:54.366 --> 00:24:57.096
Other places don't.

00:24:57.096 --> 00:25:05.403
I mean, there's the tree lighting in New York and Manhattan and there's all sorts of events on the water to light a tree.

00:25:05.403 --> 00:25:06.805
Where did that come from?

00:25:08.730 --> 00:25:09.332
all sorts of like events.

00:25:09.332 --> 00:25:09.893
On the water light a tree.

00:25:09.893 --> 00:25:10.515
Where did that come from?

00:25:10.515 --> 00:25:10.915
I think it was.

00:25:10.915 --> 00:25:14.125
It's just one of those things that that's how tradition becomes tradition.

00:25:14.125 --> 00:25:31.492
You know it started off with, probably and this is another thing I need to start looking up in you know more, doing a little more research about the actual origins of Christmas, because I know the origins of Santa Claus, but I don't.

00:25:31.492 --> 00:25:35.803
I haven't really studied a lot of the origins of Christmas and how.

00:25:35.803 --> 00:25:38.934
Why the tree is is the tree?

00:25:38.934 --> 00:25:42.480
Why is the Christmas tree that kind of tree?

00:25:42.480 --> 00:25:45.472
Why do we decorate it the way we decorate it?

00:25:45.472 --> 00:25:46.696
Why you don't?

00:25:46.696 --> 00:25:57.413
I don't have all that information because, honestly, even after seven years, I still can't believe this is happening to me.

00:25:57.413 --> 00:25:59.435
So I'm learning.

00:26:00.117 --> 00:26:03.703
I'm learning every day but okay, so let's pivot a little bit.

00:26:03.703 --> 00:26:13.522
Then we talked about different traditions, we talked about things around the world and, obviously, the impact you've had or could have on people and the spirit of Christmas as a result.

00:26:13.522 --> 00:26:17.700
But plenty of people get into dark places during the holidays too.

00:26:17.700 --> 00:26:34.805
They can't go home because they're deployed or estranged from their children, or they just happen to be alone, or they're in prison or all sorts of circumstances where the holidays and seeing people experience that kind of joy has a negative effect and pushes them further.

00:26:34.805 --> 00:26:42.804
Right, what are your opinions on trying to help recognize or support, empower those people?

00:26:42.804 --> 00:26:45.679
What role does identity actually have during this season?

00:26:46.650 --> 00:26:48.336
Well, I wish I had those kind of answers.

00:26:48.336 --> 00:26:50.396
I'd be in a different line of work.

00:26:50.396 --> 00:26:52.635
It's an ebb and a flow.

00:26:52.635 --> 00:26:54.155
It's a yin and a yang.

00:26:54.155 --> 00:27:00.383
If you don't have evil, then good isn't as good.

00:27:00.383 --> 00:27:05.615
It doesn't make sense, but it is what it is.

00:27:05.615 --> 00:27:19.560
And when people are out there, a lot of times the holiday season brings people down lower than they normally are, because they know they're supposed to be happy.

00:27:19.560 --> 00:27:21.696
They just don't know how to be.

00:27:21.696 --> 00:27:33.525
Or they're in a position where they can't be like in prison, or they're in a position where they can't be like in prison, or, you know, there's a lot of people around the world that don't celebrate any kind of Christmas-style holiday.

00:27:33.525 --> 00:27:44.086
Yeah, like I said, if I had those kind of answers, I'd be a professor somewhere.

00:27:44.086 --> 00:27:49.134
All right, folks, stay tight and we'll be right back on Transacting Value.

00:27:50.855 --> 00:27:53.618
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00:27:53.618 --> 00:28:01.987
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00:28:01.987 --> 00:28:15.993
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00:28:46.605 --> 00:28:47.767
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00:28:51.210 --> 00:28:53.011
Like I said, if I had those kind of answers I'd be a professor somewhere.

00:28:53.031 --> 00:29:00.118
I think you may be shortchanging your role To be somebody that everybody looks at or gains inspiration from.

00:29:00.118 --> 00:29:05.684
You may not have a collegiate certification, but I think you're creeping pretty close on an honorary degree.

00:29:05.684 --> 00:29:09.469
That's nice to hear, Nothing else you know after 1,400 years, you're creeping pretty close on an honorary degree.

00:29:09.469 --> 00:29:09.930
That's nice to hear.

00:29:09.930 --> 00:29:14.768
Nothing else After 1,400 years you've got tenure.

00:29:17.734 --> 00:29:18.718
I do have background.

00:29:18.718 --> 00:29:33.061
Something else that's interesting you just brought up as well that I think can serve to sort of empower, maybe even better decisions, let alone just dialogue and inquiry, and some degree of dignity or humanity in relationships.

00:29:33.061 --> 00:29:50.680
I don't know that this is as widely published or publicized, but when you get into the Department of Defense and you're an active duty service member or you're a first responder in the private sector, when you're in uniform, you voluntarily give up your freedom of speech.

00:29:50.680 --> 00:29:56.518
You voluntarily give up your freedom or your right to peaceable assembly.

00:29:56.518 --> 00:30:10.994
You cannot fill the same societal role or space that you could otherwise outside of uniform or off of active duty or whatever applies right Right Going to prison, for example.

00:30:10.994 --> 00:30:15.243
You also essentially waive your right to joy.

00:30:15.243 --> 00:30:19.760
You can't go out and inspire yourself to feel better.

00:30:19.890 --> 00:30:38.958
You're stuck in the bottom of whatever that mental emotional state is, and then your life, unless you find a way to make peace with it, runs on fear and hate and prejudice and bias, and so, at least initially getting into those positions maybe regret, depression, loneliness, futility.

00:30:38.958 --> 00:30:45.502
You start to have this poor negativity that's difficult to come back from.

00:30:45.502 --> 00:30:48.318
I mean, it's an uphill challenge and there's plenty of veterans.

00:30:48.318 --> 00:30:59.076
It's an uphill challenge and there's plenty of veterans, there's plenty of service members, first responders, convicts that find ways to cope that are not productive, they're not good, they're not positive, but I think that's a lot to reason.

00:30:59.076 --> 00:31:05.726
That nucleus just festers and I think, unfortunately, with a long enough time and exposure to it, you get physically ill.

00:31:05.726 --> 00:31:06.251
It actually manifests to your detriment.

00:31:06.251 --> 00:31:07.817
Unfortunately, with a long enough time and exposure to it, you get physically ill.

00:31:07.817 --> 00:31:10.859
Oh yeah, it actually manifests to your detriment.

00:31:10.859 --> 00:31:13.657
So how do we manage?

00:31:13.657 --> 00:31:13.758
it.

00:31:14.711 --> 00:31:20.250
I know a few EMTs and first responders and such.

00:31:20.250 --> 00:31:21.858
I know quite a lot.

00:31:21.858 --> 00:31:36.544
Most of my family are veterans, most of my family are veterans and I know a few veterans that have come home with issues that they would rather not have and a lot of times would rather not talk about.

00:31:38.671 --> 00:31:44.558
It's so hard because I didn't get to experience what they experienced.

00:31:44.558 --> 00:32:02.263
But I can tell you that I can identify with a little bit of it because for seven or eight weeks, six or seven weeks a year, I'm the most iconic character person on the planet.

00:32:02.263 --> 00:32:30.726
I mean, I'm Santa Claus and on December 26th, on Tony again and that's a long, hard fall emotionally and psychologically and we actually have something that we call post-season depression and I'm sure that some of that is part of PTSD.

00:32:30.726 --> 00:32:50.161
And I'm not trying to say that I have PTSD, but what I'm saying is like being in a uniform and being that hero character, saving lives and seeing people at their worst and helping and all that, all the things that people in uniform experience.

00:32:50.161 --> 00:32:56.402
Some of that has to be that fall to just being Jim again.

00:32:57.242 --> 00:32:58.491
Yeah, yeah.

00:32:58.491 --> 00:33:02.138
When identities and roles misalign, the floor falls out.

00:33:02.138 --> 00:33:04.884
Yeah, at least temporarily, right.

00:33:04.884 --> 00:33:09.497
So what kinds of things do you do to build back.

00:33:10.492 --> 00:33:18.509
I try to do something at least twice a month Santa-ish, even during the off season.

00:33:18.509 --> 00:33:21.734
So I still feel that in my heart.

00:33:21.734 --> 00:33:37.665
I like being recognized in my community as Santa, even though as Tony, I think I would probably be standing across the street thinking, wow, that's the crazy guy that thinks he's Santa Claus, you know.

00:33:39.030 --> 00:33:46.659
Yeah, out there in your reindeer board shorts and flip-flops, right yeah, so building some of these things back.

00:33:46.659 --> 00:33:58.741
You said twice a month, trying to do something santa ish, and I assume over the millions of people around the world who are also trying to embody the character and the legend and the inspiration everybody's got their own flavor.

00:33:58.741 --> 00:34:11.418
But are you talking about you and the missus making chocolate chip cookies together, and it's an intimate kind of thing, or are you talking about out in public, you know, you and the reindeer at a petting zoo, like what's the extent of the Santa ish?

00:34:12.391 --> 00:34:25.443
I'm in a lot of local Facebook groups and I I like to watch for a single mom or something struggling and I'll anonymously help them out.

00:34:25.443 --> 00:34:32.382
I see, I'll go to a restaurant and throw a 50% tip down.

00:34:32.382 --> 00:34:38.262
I try to do little things that make a difference to people.

00:34:38.262 --> 00:34:44.862
I'm not changing their lives, but it's little things to make them smile.

00:34:44.862 --> 00:34:53.380
I like for people to know that there are good people out there still, because there's a lot of really bad things going on in the world today.

00:34:54.411 --> 00:35:00.119
Well, you know you may be shortchanging your efforts there too, because it sounds to me like you are changing people's lives.

00:35:00.119 --> 00:35:08.762
You know it may not be monetary, it may not be physical, but at least, like what Sun Tzu said in the Art of War, if you win the will, you win the war.

00:35:08.762 --> 00:35:18.840
And it directly impacts the way somebody views the world, at least in that moment, and 10 years later, maybe the rest of their life moving forward because of it.

00:35:19.769 --> 00:35:26.440
Well, I have had quite a few people tell me that you know, oh, what you did last night.

00:35:26.440 --> 00:35:31.777
You know I'll remember for the rest of my life, or my child won't ever forget this.

00:35:31.777 --> 00:35:34.318
Or you know you're my hero.

00:35:34.318 --> 00:35:36.175
I've heard that kind of stuff.

00:35:36.175 --> 00:35:38.815
But you know 90% of what I do.

00:35:38.916 --> 00:35:45.150
I never hear what happened Because I don't look for credit in it as much, so a lot of it.

00:35:45.150 --> 00:35:49.472
You know they'll share something to their own Facebook page about me Because I don't look for credit in it as much, so a lot of it.

00:35:49.472 --> 00:35:51.434
They'll share something to their own Facebook page about me.

00:35:51.434 --> 00:36:00.099
I won't even hear from them until the next year and they'll tell me oh my God, greatest pictures, greatest experience last year, and then the same.

00:36:00.099 --> 00:36:01.980
I'll hear it next year.

00:36:01.980 --> 00:36:15.927
I've got eight-year-old kids now that have never known anybody but me as Santa and I think it's awesome, but I also I don't really know him because I don't see that.

00:36:15.927 --> 00:36:30.759
You know people don't like send me the pictures they take, you know, and I don't see what they see when I come into the room and interact with their families, you know, even if they're taking a video or just their memory.

00:36:30.759 --> 00:36:31.722
I don't have that.

00:36:31.722 --> 00:36:42.563
I see what I saw and I have my memory and it's awesome, but I always leave a house or an event thinking I hope they believe me.

00:36:44.952 --> 00:36:58.539
Well, even if they didn't, in the moment, the amount of inspiration that you put in, they at least believe in you, and that's probably one of the best things anybody could hope for.

00:36:59.731 --> 00:37:03.958
A lot of people say if I can change one person's life, I'll be a happy man.

00:37:03.958 --> 00:37:07.260
I've accomplished that, and then some.

00:37:08.931 --> 00:37:12.496
Well, I guess then, for the sake of time, the only other thing I can say is congratulations.

00:37:13.480 --> 00:37:15.976
Thanks, it was a pleasure talking to you, josh.

00:37:16.610 --> 00:37:17.112
You as well.

00:37:17.112 --> 00:37:17.775
You as well.

00:37:17.775 --> 00:37:29.333
I know you've got a lot to get back to and you're extremely busy right now, but thank you for coming on and talking a little bit and hanging out and just being present instead of giving presence.

00:37:29.333 --> 00:37:38.360
The only other question I have for you, then, is for anybody even here locally or that wants to find you digitally online where do people go?

00:37:39.543 --> 00:37:49.061
I'm almost worried that I'll outgrow my ability, but i'm'm Santa in Pasco on Facebook.

00:37:49.061 --> 00:37:51.516
I don't really use any other social media.

00:37:52.510 --> 00:37:56.873
Okay, Well, for anybody else who's new to this show, you can click see more.

00:37:56.873 --> 00:37:59.059
You can click show more, depending on the player.

00:37:59.059 --> 00:38:09.733
You're streaming this conversation on and in the drop-down description you'll see a link and you can follow along and maybe one day send Santa some feedback about how he's doing.

00:38:10.454 --> 00:38:11.175
That'd be awesome.

00:38:11.797 --> 00:38:15.233
This was good, this was fun and hopefully we can talk again next year.

00:38:15.996 --> 00:38:20.552
I hope it turned into the interview you were expecting, because I don't think it did.

00:38:22.996 --> 00:38:23.557
That's okay.

00:38:23.557 --> 00:38:27.293
Well, it's like you said you never really know until you put it out, and then we see where it goes.

00:38:27.833 --> 00:38:33.690
That's how the the entire story got moving it's hard for me to be like in character.

00:38:33.690 --> 00:38:35.313
Even when I'm in the suit.

00:38:35.313 --> 00:38:39.302
I don't use the the santa voice and all that.

00:38:39.302 --> 00:38:43.778
I use my own voice most of the time, unless you know.

00:38:43.778 --> 00:38:45.023
If somebody needs a ho ho ho, I got one.

00:38:45.023 --> 00:38:45.324
You know.

00:38:45.324 --> 00:38:46.748
If somebody needs a ho-ho-ho, I got one.

00:38:46.748 --> 00:38:47.469
You know what I mean.

00:38:47.469 --> 00:38:55.141
But I'm a traditional-looking Santa Claus, but I am far from a traditional-acting Santa Claus.

00:38:56.190 --> 00:39:03.777
Like you said, it's all about embodying the spirit and empowering people to do the same, and that's what makes the difference.

00:39:04.210 --> 00:39:07.458
If it's not fun for me, it won't be fun for them.

00:39:08.481 --> 00:39:10.112
Absolutely Well.

00:39:10.112 --> 00:39:20.815
The last thing I'll say, then, to everybody else who's been listening to this conversation when you go to our homepage and you want to listen to any of our other conversations, you can do it there TransactingValuePodcastcom.

00:39:20.815 --> 00:39:24.771
On the homepage there's a button on the top right that says leave a voicemail Two minutes Talk.

00:39:24.771 --> 00:39:26.972
There's a button on the top right that says leave a voicemail Two minutes Talk.

00:39:26.972 --> 00:39:27.673
Time's all yours.

00:39:27.673 --> 00:39:29.775
Let us know what you think of the show.

00:39:29.775 --> 00:39:34.079
Let us know what you think about the topics, the guests, my style, my questions, whatever you prefer.

00:39:34.079 --> 00:39:37.704
But you can also leave an audio file for Santa.

00:39:37.704 --> 00:39:38.704
Let him know what you think.

00:39:38.704 --> 00:39:40.106
Give him some feedback.

00:39:40.106 --> 00:39:43.992
Let him know how he's doing, let him know places where he's been.

00:39:43.992 --> 00:39:47.659
Maybe you're one of the eight-year-olds that you saw when you were four.

00:39:47.659 --> 00:39:49.304
Let him know how you're doing.

00:39:49.304 --> 00:39:56.775
You know, that sort of reciprocated feedback helps create a degree of positivity in the world, and that's what changes everything.

00:39:56.775 --> 00:40:07.418
So please go there, check it out, let us know what you think, and otherwise we'll continue to keep putting out content that you guys enjoy, hopefully with enough context that you guys get something out of.

00:40:07.418 --> 00:40:10.639
But until next time, that was Transacting Value.

00:40:10.639 --> 00:40:15.217
Thank you to our show partners and folks.

00:40:15.217 --> 00:40:19.481
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00:40:20.250 --> 00:40:31.797
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00:40:31.797 --> 00:40:40.338
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00:40:40.338 --> 00:40:49.561
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00:40:49.561 --> 00:41:02.536
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00:41:02.536 --> 00:41:13.951
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00:41:13.951 --> 00:41:17.940
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00:41:17.940 --> 00:41:21.416
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