Hot and Cold

Southridge did either last year or the year before.

Capitol Court had a Black Santa once. This was last decade and I remember the kids at the time were gathering around him like any other Santa.

Plus, Walmart at the Midtown Center had a Black Santa on two occasions for taking pictures with the kids. Like Capitol Court, the kids gathered around him like any other St. Nick.

Great point Happy. Now why is Wal-Mart at one location the only memory of a Black Santa? It's great the kids gathered around him, that made me smile.

Also, Happy, when was the last time you saw a Black Barbie and her doll house in a Mattel commercial?

There are so many areas of this topic I want to go into, well 1) I remember a Black Santa at Capital Court, by this time I was too old to believe, but it was impressionable for the younger children. 2) Growing up I had a large collection of black dolls including Barbie and Cabbage Patch and I was lucky my mother worked at stores that sold black dolls which were always limited in numbers so because my mom worked at stores like Zayers, I usually would get one of the few black dolls sold. 3) Kimora Lee Simmons made it mandatory that she represented for all minorities when she was offered to be a barbie doll and made it clear that she will be a Kimora Lee Barbie. 4) I too questioned why all the older Christmas movies only show white children. It really gives no hope to minority children who may grow up poor and without and grow up believing Santa only gives gifts and visits the homes of only white children. Lastly, it will only make sense (in my opinion) to have Santas of different races where the number of people shop or dwell. It would make no sense to have a black Santa in Brookfield where the larger number of people are white versus having a white Santa at Midtown where most of the consumers are black.

How about this, maybe there are, but just not alot of them because not as many volunteer so you don't see so many around.

I Tell You What. If You Want To See A Black Santa, Go Buy That Movie "Bad Santa" with Bernie Mac In It, or Go See Those 2 New Movies "This Christmas", with Chris Brown In It and "The Perfect Holiday" with Morris Chestnut, Gabrielle Union, and more big people in it. Them the only times you will see some "Black Santa's". LOL!

But to answer that question, I have no idea why there aren't any Black Santa's. That's a good question and a mystery.

Seeing as Santa is a made up character I don't see why he couldn't be any color anyone wishes to imagine.

This is off the subject but Antoine mentioned the movie "Bad Santa". I just saw this on tv and what a complete waste of time! This is one of those movies that you sit there watching waiting for it to get better, thinking at any point this is going to turn the corner and MAKE A POINT! NOT! Reminds me of the movie "Fargo", just a dark, warped sense of humor movie. (although my husband loved Fargo) Oh and by the way, there is no black santa in "Bad Santa".

The New York Historical Society held its first St. Nicholas anniversary dinner on December 6, 1810. John Pintard commissioned artist Alexander Anderson to create the first American image of Nicholas for the occasion. Nicholas was shown in a gift-giving role with children's treats in stockings hanging at a fireplace. The accompanying poem ends, "Saint Nicholas, my dear good friend! To serve you ever was my end, If you will, now, me something give, I'll serve you ever while I live."

The jolly elf image received a big boost in 1823, from a poem destined to become immensely popular, "A Visit from St. Nicholas," now better known as "The Night Before Christmas."
His looks are changing, but it is still Saint Nicholas.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes — how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf . . . .

con't....

Haddon Sundblom began thirty-five years of Coca-Cola Santa advertisements which finally established Santa as an icon of contemporary commercial culture. This Santa was life-sized, jolly, and wearing the now familiar red suit. He appeared in magazines, on billboards, and shop counters encouraging Americans to see Coke as the solution to "a thirst for all seasons." By the 1950s Santa was turning up everywhere as a benign source of beneficence. This commercial success has led to the North American Santa Claus being exported around the world where he threatens to overcome the European St. Nicholas, who has retained his identity as a Christian bishop and saint.
It's been a long journey from the Fourth Century Bishop of Myra, St. Nicholas, who showed his devotion to God in extraordinary kindness and generosity, to America's jolly Santa Claus. However, if you peel back the accretions he is still Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, whose caring surprises continue to model true giving and faithfulness. In the United States there is growing interest in the original saint to help recover the spiritual dimension of this festive time. For indeed, St. Nicholas, lover of the poor and patron saint of children, is a model of how Christians are meant to live. A priest, a bishop, Nicholas put Jesus Christ at the center of his life, his ministry, his entire existence. Families, churches, and schools are embracing true St Nicholas traditions as one way to claim the true center of Christmas — the birth of Jesus. Such a focus helps restore balance to increasingly materialistic and stress-filled Advent an