Children Call 1-800-726-8222
December 20-24, 2011, Noon-8pm Pacific Time
www.AccidentalSanta.com

ACCIDENTAL SANTA TURNS 5

Five years ago, in early December 2006, I activated a new phone number 1-800-SantaBarbara (726-8222) to be an offline companion to my business SantaBarbara.com. That was the exact same week I launched this food news column.

Much to my surprise I was soon flooded with calls from misdialing children trying to reach 1-800-SantaClaus (726-8225) which was one digit off from mine and was a deactivated number.

   I’ll never forget the first call: it was from a little boy who wanted a blue truck, a pony, and a spider. As first I didn’t know why he was calling ME but I quickly figured out that he had called me by ACCIDENT. Rather than hang up I played along and spent the next two weeks pretending to be the Jolly Old Elf to children across the country.

• Listen to actual phone calls: Girl, Girl, Girl, Girl, Boy, Boy, Boy, Boy, Boy
• Common questions: Am I on the naughty or nice list? Can I speak to an Elf? Does Santa have my address? Did you receive my list? Is it cold in the North Pole? When is Rudolph’s birthday? Does he have a red nose and soft fur? What are the names of all the Reindeer / Elf? Why is Santa fat? How many children do Santa & Mrs. Claus have? Where is Santa? (asked to Mrs. Claus) Is Santa real?

After a couple of weeks of taking these accidental Santa phone calls at my home, by the fireplace, word reached the Santa Barbara News-Press which soon published a story about it. What happened next was very unexpected and is pretty much unbelievable.

The News-Press story was picked up by the Associated Press and suddenly the national media started writing about an “Accidental Santa” out west in California. Radio stations from coast to coast, including NPR, started calling. I was asked to do a video interview over satellite with MSNBC and Fox News. To my complete amazement CNN brought a satellite truck to Goleta on Christmas Eve for a live interview at my home, by the fireplace.

What started out as an accidental Santa chat every 15 minutes turned into a full telephone meltdown as my business phone number was broadcast across the country and millions of children tried to reach me. Of course it is impossible for one person to handle that many phone calls but I did I ended up personally talking to 973 boys & girls from coast to coast including Alaska & Hawaii.

The following year, knowing that kids would call back, I decided to start a “Santa Claus call center” with over 100 volunteers helping answer the phone as Santa & Mrs. Claus (or an Elf), talking to over 20,000 children the first year alone. Over the years the call centers have been located at Montecito Bank & Trust (2007), Unity Shoppe (2008) and office space provided by SIMA Corporation (2009, 2010). The phone system has been provided by Cox Business Digital Telephone and I pay for the toll-free calls out of my pocket.

• Volunteer photos: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010

For the first time, 5 years after it all began, the Santa Claus call center returns this year to where it started: at my home, by the fireplace. The Santa Claus call center (800-726-8222) will be answering phone calls from children December 20-24, noon – 8pm.

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