The Sun Sunnyvale's Newspaper Photograph by Skye Dunlap For the past five years, Sunnyvale resident Jan Fey has donated the money she raises during picture sessions with Santa to the Children's Home Society. Fey's 17-year-old son Taurus usually dons the red suit, but last weekend his father sat in. Here, Santa listens as 2-year-old Andrew Heenan divulges his holiday wishes. Young Santa has a hard time bellowing deep 'Hos!' By Michelle Ku During the holidays, fathers, uncles and grandparents dress up as Santa Claus for the children, but how many 13-year-old boys take on that regal role? Five years ago a young Taurus Fey did when he dressed up as Santa Claus for the children who visited his mother's store, the Elegant Favor. Today, Fey, a Sunnyvale resident and a senior at Fremont High School, is still dressing up as Santa Claus to pose for pictures and hear the Christmas wishes of children. This year, Fey will continue the annual tradition: Sunnyvale residents can catch him in his final engagement of the season from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at The Elegant Favor in Willow Glen. At Christmastime, Fey usually plays Santa Claus twice. During that time, he takes pictures with an average of 25 to 30 children. Parents are charged $3 a picture, and all the money raised by The Elegant Favor is donated to the Children's Home Society of California (CHSC), an organization dedicated to protecting children and preserving families. At 13, Fey was tall for his age. He says, "I was like 5 feet 6 inches or so when I was 13. I'm about 5 feet 8 inches now." Fey is now 17. The idea for Fey to play Santa Claus came from his mother, Jan Fey. She began the tradition for two reasons--to help her son toward a community service project and to raise money for CHSC. Five years ago, Jan's son had a community service requirement at his Los Altos school, St. Simon's. Jan and Fey came up with the idea of having him dress up as Santa Claus to pose for pictures with children. "It's nice," said Jan. "Parents can get a picture of their kids with Santa and they don't have to stand in line at the mall. In the mall it's frustrating because they have to wait in long lines." Still a youngster himself, it wasn't easy for Fey to play the role of Santa--he hadn't worked much with children and didn't know what they thought or liked--but he didn't dress up as Santa just to fulfill a school requirement or to help out CHSC. He had another reason: "I remember when I was little, and every year my parents used to have Santa Claus come to the house. Instead of wishing to get something for Christmas, I could feel like I was actually telling Santa Claus himself," Fey said. With vivid memories of Santa Claus during his childhood, Fey wanted to pass the Christmas spirit to other children. "It's rewarding to see little kids go away with a big smile on their face," Fey said. "I would like to see them remember me as Santa Claus and remember Santa Claus as kind of a mystical thing about Christmas. He's kind of there in spirit, and he gives to people who need things. I try to instill in the kids that Christmas is a time of giving. To be able to share that with them and try to teach them a bit of what Christmas about is probably the most rewarding thing." In the beginning, the hardest part about playing Santa Claus was interacting with the children, Fey said. He conquered that hurdle after he got a job teaching children how to swim. Today, the hardest part of the job is achieving a full adult-sounding voice in his "ho, ho, ho!" Last year, the artists whose crafts were on sale at The Elegant Favor created Elegant Favor, a cookbook of their favorite recipes. The store raised $150 on the cookbook and donated the money to CHSC. [ Back to Contents Page | Sunnyvale Sun Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, December 23, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.