A tale of 3 Santas: They're making the holidays extra special

What makes Santa Claus, well, Santa?

Beyond the red suit, sack full of gifts and general jolliness, it may come down to how he relates to the smallest among us.

If children look past the generous belly, twinkling eyes and white beard and believe, truly believe, then Santa is Santa. Case closed.

Of course, Christmas preparations keep Santa pretty busy this time of year, so he does dispatch helpers to check on behavior and review those important lists. And while all Santas may be jolly, there are a few who seem to sprinkle a little extra magic when meeting with children.

We found a few close by.

Taking time to listen

Autumn Stankay, owner of Greensburg’s SkySight Photography, says upon meeting the late Dwight Sarson more than 10 years ago, she was so taken with his look and “ho ho ho” laugh she asked him to play her studio Santa.

“Dwight would ask (children) a lot of questions, and let the children ask him whatever they wanted, as well about his reindeer and the North Pole,” Stankay says.

Sarson, 64, of Unity, died in April.

His wife, Dana Santone Sarson, says her husband loved children and enjoyed his holiday role.

“I have to say, that’s what his Christmas was about,” she says. Children were convinced he was Santa, Sarson says, even if he was wearing a “flannel shirt and jeans.”

“He was very jovial, always pleasant, always happy. He had a very gentle demeanor. He never met a child who didn’t like him,” she says.

The couple’s daughter, Ayla Michael K. Sarson, played Santa’s helper for several years when she was younger.

“She liked to hang out and watch him interact with the kids. He was a really good listener. That, I think, endeared him to kids and adults,” Sarson says.

Brody Ross, 9, began visiting Santa at Stankay’s studio when he was 1, says his mother, Stacey Ross of Greensburg.

“He embodied everything Santa could be,” she says. “He remembered each kid’s name and asked if they were happy with what he brought them the last year.”

Over the years, Santa Sarson read with the children and decorated cookies with them.

“It was always magical. I swear I heard the bell ring every year,” she says.

Liz McDonald says Sarson was the only Santa her son Liam, 8, ever knew.

“There was no nervousness about seeing Santa. (Sarson) would joke with the kids,” the Greensburg resident says. “Liam was just happy every time we went. It was perfect. We will remember him forever.”

Sensing special needs

Some Santas are available for private visits for children with autism and other special needs, including a Santa who greets visitors at Pittsburgh Mills mall in Frazer.

Charlene Hoffer of Leechburg was unaware of that option when she took her grandson, Elam Johnson, 5, of Vandergrift, for his first visit with Santa earlier this month.

“It was just regular mall hours. I went there for him to see Santa,” Hoffer says.

“While we were there, Elam was messing around with the cottony snow in the Santa section, so I took a minute to inform Santa’s helper that Elam has autism, just so Santa would know,” she says.

The helper then said a few words to Santa.

“They just nodded, like ‘No big deal, we got this.’ (Santa) walked up to Elam and engaged with him and walked around with him.”

The mall’s Santa, Frank Casaleno, 68, of New Jersey, says his work as an Army platoon sergeant and as a Scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts exposed him to “lots of personalities.”

He has helped fill in for Santa at numerous sites, including at Santa’s Workshop, an amusement park in New York state.

“It’s a calling, definitely from God, to keep the hope and joy, the spirit of Christmas in each child or adult, whoever needs it,” Casaleno says.

Sometimes a child has an illness, comes from a broken home or has had a bad day. Sometimes children with special needs come to see him on school field trips.

“You just kind of see where the spirit is going when each child comes up,” he says. “They are completely in love with Santa, before they even see me.”

He tries to encourage children and build up their self-confidence, especially with their schoolwork.

Sometimes, when he’s working in a resort area, he encounters children who don’t speak English. Then he relies on the French, German and Italian he learned while traveling in the military.

Parents sometimes start crying, while their children “light up like Christmas trees,” Casaleno says, when he converses in their language.

In a letter she wrote praising Santa, Hoffer says he asked her grandson his name and age and if he was in school. The two also talked about a visit to the hospital to see a friend of Hoffer’s, and how much Elam liked the elevator.

“As you reached for your special Santa paper, you asked Elam, ‘Do you like to color?’ He said softly, ‘No, I don’t color too good,’” Hoffer writes. “With what looked like twinkly eyes and a real big smile you boldly said, ‘Elam, someday you are going to color real good, really be able to learn your ABCs and even learn to read.’”

Hoffer recalls her grandson walking away “with a real bounce in his step.”

“It was so cool. (Santa) did not reach out for him to sit on his lap. He just sat down and kept (Elam) engaged in conversation. It was really fantastic,” Hoffer says.

Lots of ho, ho, ho-ing

John Suhr is Santa’s helper at the Peoples Gas Holiday Market in Pittsburgh’s Market Square, and helped ring in the WPXI Holiday Parade as well.

Suhr, 63, of Carrick says he became “Santa John” for his own kids and nieces and nephews when they were little.

“Some guys are into golf, or hunting and fishing. Santa Claus and Christmas was always my thing,” he says.

“In my opinion there always is something to learn, something you can do a little better,” Suhr says of being Santa’s helper. “A boy gave me his list once and the first thing on it was ‘I want dad to come home.’ I was not sure what that meant. I learned to get parents involved.”

Kids, Suhr says, “like to sneak things in.” Among the Legos and Batman action figures will be a request for an iPhone — or a puppy.

“When I see something like that, over the top, I say I have to get a note. I put it back on the parents,” he says. “It’s like an improv thing, every kid.”

He knows some sign language, enabling him to speak with hearing-impaired children.

“One thing I know how to say in sign language is ‘I was wondering what kind of toys you want me to bring for Christmas?’” he says.

He also can sign “Merry Christmas” and “I love you.”

Suhr, who saves most of his vacation time from his “other job” as a city of Pittsburgh locksmith to help out Santa, says being “Santa John” is “almost like a ministry.”

“Maybe God has blessed me,” he says. “I don’t want to throw away a gift from God. I want to use it.”