Long-time Qld santa reveals the moment that broke his heart

Every Christmas for 36 years Mel Cross has put on the red suit, plastered his face with a smile and prepared to delight children he’ll meet across the festive season. But it’s not always easy.

Mel Cross has been a santa for almost four decades. Picture: Nigel Hallett

Every Christmas for 36 years Mel Cross has put on the red suit, plastered his face with a smile and prepared to delight the hundreds of children he’ll meet across the festive season.

But it’s not always easy.

A year ago he met a mum and dad who wanted to create an extra special Christmas memory for their tiny baby girl.

“Last year there was this little girl, only probably six months old, and her dad was dying of cancer,” he said.

“They wanted to have photos taken before he passed away.”

This year the little girl, now a toddler, came back again. Her daddy wasn’t there.

“I recently found out that the father passed away two weeks after we got those photos taken last year,” Mr Cross said.

‘It is sad, the mum had a bit of a tear this year and she wants to keep the tradition of Santa photos going.

“It made me think that Santa can be more than just a jovial old person, he can be there for those compassionate times as well.”

Mr Cross, who works for Hire a Santa, said he started his Santa career when his own children were very young.

“I did some Santa gigs and people just started coming up to me asking, how can we get Santa to come to our social clubs or go to our hotel or that sort of thing, and that’s how it just grew,” he said.

“I’ve been doing it for over half my life.

“I’m very authentic, because I’ve got the tummy and I don’t wear any padding.”

In terms of learning the tricks of the trade, Mr Cross said he relied on his own life experience.

“My Santa school was being a father and a grandfather,” he said.

“When you are around kids, you understand what kids want, understand their lingo, and know when to be not so loud and be a bit more quiet.

“I also change my voice and adjust my voice accordingly to the kids that I’m dealing with

“You’ve got to act the part, you’ve got to understand the part, and you got to talk their language.”

Mr Cross said one of the biggest challenges of being a Santa is navigating difficult gift requests.

“It’s all electric scooters, Nintendos, Xboxes, and all that stuff now, where years ago, it was proper toys,” he said.

“When it comes to electronic equipment I just say, ‘Well, I don’t do that, I only do toys, and you might have to talk to your mum and dad about that’.”

Mr Cross said he wouldn’t trade the role for anything in the world.

“I do it because I enjoy it,” he said.

“It’s me enjoying myself, it’s me making kids happy. I won’t be giving it away anytime soon.”

Sensory Santa Dale Pengelly at the Home CO shopping centre at Marsden. Picture: David Clark

SENSORY SANTA

If there’s one thing that Santa Dale Pengelly knows is true each Christmas is that every single visit to him is unique.

Mr Pengelly works as a sensory Santa or sensitive Santa, specialising in catering to neurodiverse people and those with a disability.

“I love being one of Santa’s helpers and helping spread the good word of Santa Claus around this time of year,” he said.

“All people deserve to celebrate the wonderful time of year that is Christmas.”

Mr Pengelly said it is important to consider the needs of the people he meets with and to be adaptable.

“You’ve got to recognise the care needs of the person living with a disability and cater to that,” he said.

“There are some people that you can’t be so boisterous with, there are other people that will love to get up and have a dance.”

He said being a Sensory Santa was incredibly rewarding.

“I find it fulfilling, because they have tough lives and to be able to just have a little window, where they can just kind of forget about, it really pulls on the heartstrings,” he said.

“This is another delightful thing I find about them, it’s just that they so believe.

“When you get little hints from the parents about things that only santa’s helper would know, it’s just really special, just to see that magic in their eyes.

“It is just nice for them to be able to live their best life.”

Singing Santa Greg Tschernez at Albany Creek Village in Albany Creek. Picture: Steve Pohlner

SINGING SANTA

You can usually hear Queensland’s singing Santa before you can see him.

Longtime performer Greg Tschernez of Santas Queensland loves to belt out all the Christmas classics while meeting families, especially his personal fave Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

“I am a singing Santa,” he said.

“I am a professional singer and that’s what I also do when I’m not helping Santa out by doing this. It’s all about performing.”

Part of the talented team from Santas Queensland, Mr Tschernez said you need to be performer to be part of the business.

“All of us that work for Santas Queensland are professional performers, be it singers, dancers, magicians,” he said.

“We’ve got magicians who work as Santa’s helpers as well, and we’ve got a whole team of elves as well.

“All the elves that work for us they’re also professional performers as well. So we’re the best of the best.”

But to really make his performance sing each year, Mr Tschernez said it all comes down to a little Christmas spirit.

“I love it, being able to bring joy to the children and to entertain them and find out what they want for Christmas and make sure they’re being good so they get all their presents,” he said.

“To bring joy to the children and their families and being able to just allow them to feel the joy that often in the world these days is a little hard to find is an absolute gift.”