(December 2007) I had a great, and busy, span of five days in December, followed by three days as Santa Claus.

The 12th of December, I played two roles in a play called A Christmas Minute for Act One Productions in Reading, PA. I played a pastor who was always giving out chores for people to do to put on a Christmas play. I also played Joseph in a flashback scene of the Nativity. I had played the same roles two years ago. Because of a scheduling conflict, I was not able to make the one rehearsal that was held before the performance date. So I performed without any rehearsal. But everything went smoothly, and the audience loved it.

The next day, December 13th, I performed in a murder mystery with The GiggleMill Improv Comedy Troupe for a nationally known publishing company. The audience members had flown in for a Christmas party from all over the United States. The GiggleMill was the entertainment for the party.

The third day, December 14th, The GiggleMill performed its murder mystery for an accounting and auditing firm located in Delaware. Because the murder mystery is fully improvised, the plot and cast of characters were entirely different from the show performed for the publishing company. The plot line comes from suggestions made throughout the performance by the audience. The GiggleMill cast takes the suggestions and molds them into a plot, which leads to the uncovering of the murderer. The murderer turned out to be one of the audience members.

On December 15th, I spent the morning and afternoon telling stories for Once Upon a Nation at Valley Forge National Historical Park. I told stories to visitors about George Washington, King George III, Martha Washington and others involved in the American Revolution. In one of the stories I actually portray Martha Washington for 30 seconds, which always makes people laugh.

That night, I performed in Murder I Do with the Murder Mystery Players at a beautiful facility in Delaware. The audience consisted of the employees of a law firm at their Christmas party. The off-script lawyer jokes were a bit rampant, at times.

The fifth day, December 16th, I performed once again in Murder I Do at Dave and Busters in Philadelphia (Columbus Boulevard) at a show for a software firm. In Murder I Do, I portray a drunken reverend that has been called at the last minute to officiate at a wedding. I double as the detective who has to solve a murder that occurs in the first act.

On the sixth, seventh and eight days, I was Santa Claus at Macys in downtown Philadelphia all day, each day. What a joy to become a part of childrens lives in such a positive way!

I wish I could stay busy like this every day of the year.

(December 2007) Playing Santa has been similar to my playing Police Officer Francoif in the Mark Walberg film, Shooter.

When I played Officer Francoif, there were a lot of extras in front of me during one scene. I found that the extras treated me with the respect a police officer might expect. When there were disagreements, people asked me to mediate. When I expressed my authoritative opinion, people listened and obeyed.

Once the scene was filmed and I got dressed back into my every day clothes, the magic was gone. I was just another person, not an authoritative police officer.

The same things happen when I put on, or take off, my Santa outfit. When I am Santa, kids and adults see me as Saint Nicholas. They see a man who is kindly and jovial.

When I take off the Santa suit, again I am just another individual.

I guess clothes sometimes do make the man.

(December 2007) The week after Thanksgiving showed me why I was right to give thanks.

Sunday morning, I was in a filming of "Tippy Toes". My role was that of a vaudevillian style Ringleader. It was a lot of fun, and I was finished with my part of the shoot pretty quickly.

Sunday afternoon, and the next two mornings, I was portraying Santa at Macy's in Philadelphia. I had lots of fun with this too. The best visit I had was with two adults from France. We carried on a conversation in French, limited as it may have been, because they spoke very little English. It was a great moment, and they seemed to enjoy themselves.

Wednesday, I portrayed a drunken Reverend in "Murder I Do" for Murder Mystery Players. This was for a private party in a dinner theater program at Dave and Buster's in Philadelphia. It was a hoot. I also received a new booking for my Improv troupe, The GiggleMill Improv Comedy troupe. The GiggleMill will be performing another time in December, with our fully Improv murder mystery.

Thursday night, I taught Improv to my class of students, and we did a lot of laughing. What a fun way to learn and to teach.

Friday night, I performed as Borgo, a Romanian spy, at the Bistro Romano dinner theater on Lombard Street. We had a large audience, but I got to know almost everyone personally as I made my way to each table between acts (in character of course).

Saturday morning, I attended a rehearsal for The GiggleMill, to practice and prepare for the murder mysteries we will be performing in December.

Saturday night, I was back at the Bistro Romano Restaurant as Borgo.

Busy, fun and great week.