Jolly Old Elf makes first Valley visit of the season

WASILLA — It’s crunch time for Santa.

Elves are working furiously to complete the billions of toys Jolly Old Saint Nick will deliver Christmas Eve, and Mrs. Claus is making sure Kris Kringle’s signature red suit is in tip-top shape. Even with all the hustle and bustle at his workshop near the North Pole, Santa found time Saturday to drop in on some good girls and boys at the Wasilla Senior Center.

“What do you want for Christmas, little girl?” he asked a shy 4-year-old Reese Mikkelsen.

After smiling at Santa and looking to her grandmother for approval, Reese says in a tiny voice, “A unicorn.”

“Ho, ho, ho, every girl in the world wants a unicorn,” Santa replies. “A real unicorn? What color unicorn do you want?”

“A blue one,” Reese says. After being plied with a candy cane and free plush toy, she was more forthcoming about her Christmas wish. “I want one and I would play with it.”

While Reese, wearing a shiny, red satin-like holiday dress, was excited and polite while seeing Santa, her twin brother Ryan was bold.

“I’m getting a pirate ship,” he exclaims while climbing into Santa’s lap. “I like the Neverland pirates. … I like pirates ‘cause they fight bad guys.”

The Mikkelsen twins were with grandparents Denise and Rich Iliff, who are visiting the Valley from their home in North Dakota.

They brought their grandchildren after learning he would be in the Valley at the invitation of the Wasilla Lions Club.

“Well, mom and dad were going snowmachining today, and we’re going home on Monday, so we wanted to take them to see Santa,” Denise said. “So, I G oogled ‘Santa in Wasilla,’ and I heard he was going to be landing here today.”

When pressed, Denise admitted she hadn’t made any requests of Santa Claus for a long time, but said that would change on Saturday.

“What am I asking from Santa?” she said. “I guess the only thing I’d ask of Santa is for safe travels for my kids snowmachining. I also want two airline tickets for the kids to come see me.”

For Santa and Mrs. Claus, also known in the Valley as Truman and Phyllis Beer, the Lions Club event was a holiday blessing. It was the first time for Truman to portray the Jolly Old Elf. He’s been growing his beard since September, and said that even Santa has his own wishes for Christmas.

“Santa wants a Cessna 185 on floats this year,” he said.

Of course, he’s the only person who can’t ask Santa Claus for a gift; he has to ask the missus.

“Well, let’s just say on a scale of zero to 10,” Phyllis said, “the chances of that would be a zero.”

It didn’t take Santa and his Lions Club helpers long to process the requests for a unicorn and pirate ship before the Vandenberg clan bustled into the room — mom Laurie and five excited youngsters ranging from age 6 years to 8 months sporting their holiday best.

“They’re just now getting into it,” Laurie said about the season. “Dustin wants a baby sister for Christmas. I got what I want, just look at my family.”

After getting over a little brush with bashfulness, 3-year-old Katie told Santa, “I want toys.” She got a plush bear in her favorite color, purple.

Gabriel, 4, gave more detail about his wish list.

“I want some little, tiny sharks,” he said.

“Yeah, he’s fascinated with sharks and dinosaurs,” Laurie added.

The Vandenberg clan then made way for 2-year-old Rylan Hegg and mom, Morgan. The gravity of meeting Santa in person was a little much for the youngster, though. He was shy and a little frightened of the big guy in the red suit.

“No, no,” Rylan said when his mother tried to put him in Santa’s lap.

“He likes Buzz (Lightyear) a lot,” Morgan said. “He’s a little nervous right now, but he knows what Santa says. He goes around and points at the ornaments on our tree and goes ‘ho, ho, ho.’”

And while Denise Iliff said a safe family was enough to fulfill her holiday wishes this year, she got a little help from her grandson, Ryan, who whispered loudly in her ear: “ask him to give you a pony.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.