By Andy Spearman
The kids who live in Moneymore are very lucky, their lives might not be perfect, but they have the best Mammies and Daddies in the world. I know, I met a lot of them yesterday.
Even luckier for them is that Santa, the real Santa, always takes time out to drop in to the Moneymore Connect Family Resource Centre to visit them in person even though he’s really, really busy at his world headquarters at the North Pole.
Did I say that Santa is really, really busy? Well I MEANT to say that he is really, really, really, REALLY busy!
He has to make sure that all the Christmas presents are being wrapped properly at his North Pole despatch Department where his elves have to read all the letters sent in from children all over the world.
Did you know that there are almost two BILLION children in the world under the age of 14? That’s a lot of kids and an awful lot of letters!
Also, another 385,000 babies are born EVERY DAY around the world. That works out at an extra 140 million letters and gifts for Santa and his helpers to deal with every Christmas.
That’s much more than Amazon could handle in one day – and they have over one and a half million people working for them! I think the latest number is actually 1,500,002.
What Amazon doesn’t have though, is Santa’s magic formula. I’m sure their boss, a really rich man called Jeff Bezos, would pay a good price for it.
“I’m not selling!” Santa told Drogheda Life when I asked him. “The elves and I have our own way of doing things and it is working just fine. “If it’s not broken don’t fix it, that’s my motto!”
Santa told all the children he met in Moneymore, that sometimes the reindeer get a bit tired from all that dashing through the snow and flying across continents and asked them to leave out carrots for them.
“There’s plenty of nutrition in carrots, that is why I ask the children to leave out a carrot or two for the reindeer” he told me.
“A hundred and 28 grammes of raw carrots, contains 1068.80 microgrammes of vitamin A, 7.6 milligrams of vitamin C, and 0.00 microgrammes of vitamin D.”
“Thanks Santa, that’s REALLY interesting” I said.
“There’s also 0.38 milligrams of iron, 42.24 milligrams of calcium, 410 milligrams of potassium….”
“Santa, that’s enough about carrots!” I said.
I know I shouldn’t have given out to Santa but there’s only so much talk about carrots that anyone can take.
Anyway, he hadn’t travelled all the way to Moneymore to talk to me, he was there to chat with the kids and boy did he chat! He also seems to know everyone.
“How’s your granny? He asked one startled little girl.”How do you know my granny?” she asked.
“Sure, I remember her well I brought her a Barbie doll when she was only your age” Santa replied. “I remember she cut off Barbie’s hair! Is she still living at number 20?
“Your granny always left out carrots for the reindeer and a glass of whiskey for me. I’m off the drink now though, I was getting heartburn from it.”
I was there to take photos of the children with Santa and was just about to pack up my camera and head for home when in walked two Guards.
I thought perhaps they were there to arrest him for being drunk in charge of a sleigh or for robbing carrots but no, the boys in blue were there to meet the man in red.
The boys in blue meet the man in red – Community Guards Martin Mellsop and Tom Sheridan have a long way to go before they Match Santa’s beard! They are pictured here with Community Development & Family Support Worker Cliodhna Cunningham at the Moneymore Connect House. Photos: Andy Spearman.
The pair, Community Gardaí Martin Mellsop and Tom Sheridan, were delighted to pose for a photo with Santa. They both have beards but they are nothing compared to Santa’s flowing white locks.
“Don’t forget to leave out a couple of carrots on Christmas night, for the reindeer don’t you know, carrots have a lot of nutrition, there’s vitamin D and iron and…..
“Bye Santa, see you next Christmas!”
These and other photos are availble on the Drogheda Life Facebook page.
