Listening to kids talk about what toys they want and posing for photos all day long might be many people’s definition of hell, but for the people who play Santa Claus each year, it’s the most fun job in the world since they get to make others happy.
And for Eric Schmitt-Matzen, being Santa brings him enormous joy. It’s why he works about 80 jobs each year, has a custom-tailored costume, and spends endless hours maintaining his real beard.
However, an appearance last week almost made him never want to put on his Santa costume ever again. “I’d just gotten home from work that day,” the 60-year-old said. “The telephone rang. It was a nurse I know who works at the hospital. She said there was a very sick 5-year-old boy who wanted to see Santa Claus. I told her, ‘OK, just let me change into my outfit.’ She said, ‘There isn’t time for that. Your Santa suspenders are good enough. Come right now.’ ”
Schmitt-Matzen made it to the hospital in 15 minutes, and found the family waiting with a toy for him to give the sick 5-year-old. “When I walked in, he was laying there, so weak it looked like he was ready to fall asleep. I sat down on his bed and asked, ‘Say, what’s this I hear about you’re gonna miss Christmas? There’s no way you can miss Christmas! Why, you’re my Number One elf!’,” Schmitt-Matzen said. “He looked up and said, ‘I am?’I said, ‘Sure!’.”
“I gave him the present. He was so weak he could barely open the wrapping paper. When he saw what was inside, he flashed a big smile and laid his head back down. ‘They say I’m gonna die,’ he told me. ‘How can I tell when I get to where I’m going?’ I said, ‘Can you do me a big favor?’ He said, ‘Sure!’,” Schmitt-Matzen recalls. “‘When you get there, you tell ’em you’re Santa’s Number One elf, and I know they’ll let you in.’ He said, ‘They will?’ I said, ‘Sure!’ He kinda sat up and gave me a big hug and asked one more question: ‘Santa, can you help me?’ I wrapped my arms around him. Before I could say anything, he died right there. I let him stay, just kept hugging and holding on to him.
“I cried all the way home,” said Schmitt-Matzen, who ran out of the hospital after giving the boy back to his devastated mother. “I was crying so hard, I had a tough time seeing good enough to drive. My wife and I were scheduled to visit our grandchildren in Nashville the next day, but I told her to go by herself. I was a basket case for three days. It took me a week or two to stop thinking about it all the time. Actually, I thought I might crack up and never be able to play the part again.”
Schmitt-Matzen didn’t think he was cut out for the job anymore, but he had one last appearance to make and didn’t want to disappoint the kids. “When I saw all those children laughing, it brought me back into the fold. It made me realize the role I have to play,” he said. “For them and for me.”
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[Featured image: Eric J. Schmitt-Matzen]
Santa Grants A Final Wish For A Sick 5-Year-Old Boy is an article from: LifeDaily