Santa Shortage

« A fine specimen of an authentic Joulupukki, possibly exported from Finland, in the Burlington Mall, Burlington, Massachusetts in 1998. »

I found this picture a while back when digging through some old photos and I remembered watching the old guy for a while since the beard and every detail about his costume was perfect. Had I been a child, I would have wanted to believe this person was really Santa. The Sanomat today had an article about how difficult it is to find suitable Santas and, in England, kids can't even sit on Santa's lap anymore due to a paranoid frenzy over Santas getting handsy. I briefly entertained applying for a Joulupukki job on one of the cruise ships for grins, but figured I'd just make kids cry by telling them they were all going to get coal and switches under the tree. Ho Ho Ho.