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Drive-up Santas are now taking orders in Montana
Wednesday, December 6, 2000
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PLAINS, Mont. -- No fighting the shopping mall crowds. No long treks through blizzards and over tundra to the North Pole. No last-minute logging on to Santa-dot-com.
Just drive up with the kids and let them talk to Mr. Claus -- without even leaving the car.
It's drive-up Santa at a drive-through outdoor kiosk at the Sanders County Fairgrounds in Plains, a western Montana town of 1,233 people.
Santa emerges from the little log house near the fairgrounds exit gate, hands you and yours some cellophane-wrapped candy canes, and takes your order.
"I want Legos," said Matthew Nance, 3, bundled up in his red parka and holding his mother's hand.
"I want Barbie," said Charlet Nance, 2, bundled up in a green parka.
"This is a good idea," said their mother, Raven Nance.
Becky DelGiudice, a Plains Lions Club volunteer, was the Santa on duty for the Friday night shift. Only about 10 cars came by the Santa house then, plus a few strollers, like the Nance family. It was a slow night, Santa said. On the previous Sunday, a previous Santa handed out 104 candy canes.
DelGiudice was adorned in a traditional one-size-fits-most, red-and-white Santa suit. She donned a long white beard that covered her face almost to her eyebrows. She wore a big black belt she kept tugging up above her waist, trying to keep Santa's pants from slipping downstairs.
The Santa suit was a loaner from the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post, where Santas typically are a little burlier than Becky. They also have more manly voices.
"Kids are expecting a Santa with a much deeper voice," DelGiudice admitted. "One little girl smiled at me and said, 'It's OK. It's Santa's helper.' "
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