Sunglass Santa

Dec 24, 2012 So Joy asked me and a few of the other guys staying here to dress up in Santa outfits and pass out treats/gifts to the children from the foundation, who were coming this morning to put on a Christmas performance. At first, I thought it would be utterly humiliating, but then decided to just roll with it and "do it for the kids". So I went against instinct and agreed to put on the felt Santa costume and scratchy beard and hide as instructed, awaiting the signal to appear. The children did their performance, singing carols and such, and the time came for Santa to appear so I came out and proceed to play the part of "sunglass santa from california", carrying my sack of knockoff shades that we purchased yesterday in Chiang Mai. Once I started passing them out to the kids and saw their reactions, all my inhibitions from before disappeared and I got a little into it (ham). The big kids got especially excited as you can see in the second video. It ended up being totally fun. Playing Santa for a bunch of disadvantaged schoolchildren in Northern Thailand on Christmas eve? Priceless. Later on this evening, there is a huge party planned and traditional Thai BBQ. Can't wait.