Scheduling Christmas

-

Its only the end of August, and my Christmas Calendar is filling up.  Yes, some of my clients from previous years booked their next years visit as early as January, although that is only true of a small percentage of my visits.  We get a steady stream of requests over the remainder of the year.  

I do not book most of the appearances myself.  Instead, my Mrs. Claus has taken charge of scheduling our time.  I spent an hour on the phone yesterday synching my calendar with hers.  I like to work in Google Calendar, whereas she is old school, and works entirely on paper.  There are advantages and disadvantages with each method.

Scheduling Christmas visits by Santa is a little more complicated than just available calendar dates.  Indeed, when we work with a client, we have to know not only when they want Santa, but where the venue is.  If two or more events are adjacent in time, we need to allow for travel time between the two locations.   If the events are in close proximity, we only need 30 minutes or so to drive from one to the other.  If they are on opposite end of the city, or even in the next town over, we might require an hour or more for travel.  For the most part, we will only have two or three events in a day... although last year, we had four visits on Christmas Eve.

An additional scheduling factor is... THE CHAIR.  I do have a custom made Santa Chair.  This massive behemoth is only movable by one person because in has wheels on one side.  Loading it into my truck is an adventure.  We only provide it for a very few visits (usually a store where we will appear several times).  Ferrying the chair to where it needs to be, and picking it up after is a chore, usually performed a day or more in advance...  but since the chair can't be in two locations at once, we have to think long and hard when someone asks for it.

The amusing thing is that we will get Santa requests into December.  For some reason, some people think they can find a Santa days before they want them.  But face it, our weekends after Thanksgiving are usually booked well ahead of time.  Weekdays are fairly open, but I do have a day job that I have to break away from. 
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Baked

-
Image
  Tomorrow is the annual Summer Speech Spectacular, hosted by my Toastmasters  club.  This event provides an opportunity for Toastmasters from any club to come and present a speech.  Four sessions and four rooms, and three speeches per session adds up to 64 speeches in one day.  In addition, there will be opportunities for people to take a role as Toastmaster, Evaluator, and Timer (one each per session). But this post isn't about my Toastmasters event, except perhaps perifially.  Instead, I'd like to mention that folks bring goodies for participants to browse on.  It has become somewhat of a tradition over the last 8 - 10 years that I bring a loaf or two of fresh baked bread.  In the thumbnail, you can see the two loaves that came out of the oven (about an hour ago).  I have to let them cool for a bit more, and then I have some very nice paper loaf bags to put them in. I picked up the skill of baking bread back in 2005 or 2006, while I was be...
Read more

Keep It Fair

-
Image
  The 2024 Election is upon us.  Yes, its still 5 or 6 weeks away, but we are innundated with commercials in any media format that we follow.  Most people have already made their decision.  This post is not an endorsement of either side, nor is is a demand that the reader should get out and vote.  Instead, I'd like to ponder the subject of Fairness. What is fairness?  It is making sure that every person who wishes to participate in the election process is able to do so.  This may require voter registration, IDs, and other restrictions, but there is no reason why any of these things would block a potential voter. I have worked as an election official for Wake County (NC) for about 15 years.  After serving as an assistant and help desk offical for several years, the Wake Count Board of Elections decided that I was worthy of being the Chief Judge of my precinct.  I expect that I will remain the Chief Judge there until I get tired of it.  Ma...
Read more

Weathering The Storm

-
Image
Tropical Storm Helene is headed north over the Florida Panhandle, and looks like it will be going through the states west of the seaboard.  Even if the storm intensifies to Hurricane status, it won't be hitting my vicinity, but it does serve as a reminder that we should always remain prepared. I don't expect any unusual heavy winds, but the fact that the storm will be pumping water into the atmosphere upwind of me tells me that I can expect heavier than normal rain.  Since this September has already had a fair amount of rainfall, this will undoubtedly result in local area flooding. What kind of preparations should one make if they are potentially in the path of a Hurricane?  Part of this depend on location.  If right on the coast, be prepared to evacuate.  Boarding up windows never hurts.  Having supplies of food and water is a good idea anywhere.  Depending on the temperatures in the area, you may want backup heat and electricity.  A car's gas ta...
Read more