{"id":65,"date":"2012-12-01T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-01T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.195.124.95\/~redletu4\/what-santa-school-can-teach-me-about-god\/"},"modified":"2012-12-01T07:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-12-01T14:00:00","slug":"what-santa-school-can-teach-me-about-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/what-santa-school-can-teach-me-about-god\/","title":{"rendered":"What Santa School Can Teach Me About God"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

If you have any aspirations about donning a suit and a beard and playing Santa, you might want to think about some proper \u00a0training. \u00a0Who knew?<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\nThe<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Charles\u00a0<\/span>W.\u00a0<\/span>Hard\u00a0<\/span>Santa\u00a0<\/span>Claus\u00a0<\/span>School\u00a0<\/span>in\u00a0<\/span>Midland,\u00a0\u00a0Michigan\u00a0<\/span>is the nation\u2019s oldest \u2014 and best \u2014 at putting the ho-ho-ho in the heart of would-be Santas. For 75 years they have been teaching the tricks of the trade.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
And apparently, business is booming<\/b>. With 8 percent unemployment, the Santa gig is good work for a least a few months. The tuition is about $400. The skills they learn can last a lifetime.\n

<\/p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Some of the skills are just good\u00a0hygiene\u00a0 Have good breath. Don\u2019t smoke or drink for 12 hours before you are on duty. Wash your hands in between visits.\n

<\/p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n<\/a>And there\u2019s the look. The beard needs to be slightly curly. The smile needs to be almost wistful, wise and comforting but not over the top.\u00a0<\/span>They also teach super secret Santa tricks like how to get that laugh that doesn\u2019t come from the throat, but rolls up from the\u00a0diaphragm. Try it. It\u2019s harder than it seems. And a Santa\u2019s hands always need to be in plain sight \u2014 I guess a sign of the times.\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
But the big problem for modern-day Santas is greedy kids.<\/b> When a six year old jumps on your lap and asks for an iPad, what do you say? They have to artfully dodge just about every request, otherwise angry Moms and Dads might just revoke your license.\u00a0The good Santas are taught to help guide the children back to reality. \u00a0They can\u2019t promise anything, except to provide a little hope.\n

<\/p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
As a kid, I always had a love\/hate relationship with Santa. He was big on image, big on talk, but did little to make good on his promises.\n

<\/p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
I wonder if this is how I approach God?<\/b>\u00a0Do I sit on his lap, asking for unreasonable material possessions? Do I promise to be a good boy, while presenting him with a list of stocking stuffers?\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Does he patiently listen to me, knowing that I\u2019m really not the upstanding person I pretend to be.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Does he hold back all I ask for, because it will harm me?<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I need God. Not Santa. And the wisdom to know the difference.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
\nDoes your image of Santa impact your image of God? I think this is a good conversation to have<\/span><\/i><\/b>\n

<\/p><\/span>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Hopefully, the Santas that go to the school are of a higher quality than these<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>10 creepy Santas.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/i><\/div>\n
\"Enhanced<\/a><\/div>\n
Please, share with a friend if you feel moved.
\nRead all past issues at http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you have any aspirations about donning a suit and a beard and playing Santa, you might want to think about some proper \u00a0training. \u00a0Who knew? The\u00a0Charles\u00a0W.\u00a0Hard\u00a0Santa\u00a0Claus\u00a0School\u00a0in\u00a0Midland,\u00a0\u00a0Michigan\u00a0is the nation\u2019s oldest \u2014 and best \u2014 at putting the ho-ho-ho in the heart of would-be Santas. For 75 years they have been teaching the tricks of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2375,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[134,341,395,425,432,546,757,758],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christmas","category-god","category-ho-ho-ho","category-image-of-god","category-ipad","category-midland-michigan","category-santa","category-santa-claus"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Santa School Can Teach Me About God<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you have any aspirations about donning a suit and a beard and playing Santa, you might want to think about some proper \u00a0training. \u00a0Who knew?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/what-santa-school-can-teach-me-about-god\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Santa School Can Teach Me About God\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you have any aspirations about donning a suit and a beard and playing Santa, you might want to think about some proper \u00a0training. \u00a0Who knew?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/what-santa-school-can-teach-me-about-god\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"David Rupert\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"www.facebook.com\/davidrupert\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-01T14:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-3sNhr2sPfbA\/ULmRj6gTc6I\/AAAAAAAACQg\/ZPMH8fIEdcY\/s320\/BadSanta.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Rupert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@rupzip\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Rupert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/what-santa-school-can-teach-me-about-god\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/what-santa-school-can-teach-me-about-god\/\",\"name\":\"What Santa School Can Teach Me About God\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-01T14:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-12-01T14:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/1ee971d3244e1f67a487a31f55d37c81\"},\"description\":\"If you have any aspirations about donning a suit and a beard and playing Santa, you might want to think about some proper \u00a0training. \u00a0Who knew?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/what-santa-school-can-teach-me-about-god\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/what-santa-school-can-teach-me-about-god\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/what-santa-school-can-teach-me-about-god\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What Santa School Can Teach Me About God\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/\",\"name\":\"David Rupert\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/1ee971d3244e1f67a487a31f55d37c81\",\"name\":\"David Rupert\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47e7c27dc78a66ace4b19bb00da8bccc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47e7c27dc78a66ace4b19bb00da8bccc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"David Rupert\"},\"description\":\"I am a communication professional who has a passion for people. I dream big and with that comes even bigger prayers.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.redletterbelievers.com\",\"www.facebook.com\/davidrupert\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rupzip\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/author\/drupert\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What Santa School Can Teach Me About God","description":"If you have any aspirations about donning a suit and a beard and playing Santa, you might want to think about some proper \u00a0training. \u00a0Who knew?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/what-santa-school-can-teach-me-about-god\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What Santa School Can Teach Me About God","og_description":"If you have any aspirations about donning a suit and a beard and playing Santa, you might want to think about some proper \u00a0training. \u00a0Who knew?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/what-santa-school-can-teach-me-about-god\/","og_site_name":"David Rupert","article_author":"www.facebook.com\/davidrupert","article_published_time":"2012-12-01T14:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-3sNhr2sPfbA\/ULmRj6gTc6I\/AAAAAAAACQg\/ZPMH8fIEdcY\/s320\/BadSanta.jpg"}],"author":"David Rupert","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@rupzip","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"David Rupert","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/what-santa-school-can-teach-me-about-god\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/what-santa-school-can-teach-me-about-god\/","name":"What Santa School Can Teach Me About God","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-12-01T14:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2012-12-01T14:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/1ee971d3244e1f67a487a31f55d37c81"},"description":"If you have any aspirations about donning a suit and a beard and playing Santa, you might want to think about some proper \u00a0training. \u00a0Who knew?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/what-santa-school-can-teach-me-about-god\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/what-santa-school-can-teach-me-about-god\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/what-santa-school-can-teach-me-about-god\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What Santa School Can Teach Me About God"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/","name":"David Rupert","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/1ee971d3244e1f67a487a31f55d37c81","name":"David Rupert","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47e7c27dc78a66ace4b19bb00da8bccc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47e7c27dc78a66ace4b19bb00da8bccc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"David Rupert"},"description":"I am a communication professional who has a passion for people. I dream big and with that comes even bigger prayers.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.redletterbelievers.com","www.facebook.com\/davidrupert","https:\/\/twitter.com\/rupzip"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/author\/drupert\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2375"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}