"Dear Santa, I think you should be fired from your job because you skipped my house..." and other funny things wrote by kids.
santa claus
Haddon Sundblom, a commercial illustrator, was commissioned for an advertising campaign for Coca Cola that would have much longer lasting impact than he could imagine. Although some artists had previously illustrated simliar versions of Santa, Sundblom's images of Santa in Coca Cola advertisements in the 1930's through the 1960's were a hit, and cemented in the public mind what Santa looked like. Here are a sampling of the advertisements through the first 25 years of this campaign.
Via Great big story
What goes into becoming Saint Nick? It takes more than just a red suit and white beard to don the title of Santa Claus. Every year, those that want to perfect the art of being Santa travel to Midland, Michigan, to attend the world's oldest and longest running Santa school. The Charles W. Howard Santa School has graduated thousands of Kris Kringles over its 80 years, teaching everything from beard grooming to caroling to child psychology. Via: Great Big story
As it turns out, Santa lives a pretty average life. According to Leonardo Papi's darkly humorous series, Santa is a pretty lonely guy who likes to play basketball, pick apples, and star gaze. He prefers to wear red all year round, but he isn't as fat, hairy, or jolly during the other months of the year that don't include Christmas cheer. In fact, he seems a little depressed during the rest of the year. Via: So bad so good
