Every December, Santa Claus literally does the impossible – delivering presents all over the world with a team of flying reindeer. So when someone becomes a stand-in for Santa at your local mall, or work party, those are big boots to fill.  

But as it turns out, being Santa is a teachable skill. 

Susen Mesco founded Professional Santa Claus School in Denver in 1983. She says more than 5,000 Santas have attended over the years. And that means she has decades of expertise in getting your local Santa acting and looking his best.  

Susen got started when her event planning business got an offer to train and manage some Santas at local malls. And she saw a lot of room for improvement.  

"I went around spying on my competitor, and what I actually found was everything not to do,” she said. "So I went to work, writing kind of a manual.”  

Susen joined Erin O’Toole last December to talk about what makes a great Santa, the extensive training her school offers, and how she trains Santas to answer particularly tough questions from kids. We’re listening back to that conversation today. 

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Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.