Finally a web connection!

Hello to you... I figure I have to give you 2 days of whats happening due to no connection yesterday.



They called on Friday and changed my time for pick up to 1:30am, now I am even more tired. I finally got to bed about 9:30pm my time... As a few of you know I could not sleep, so I just got up even earlier for the day.



My ride was there right on time and could I sleep in the car, not really. So I arrived on the set at 7am on Friday. Nothing was setup, that arrived in 3 semi's (moving vans) about the same time I did. Well it took until almost the time to shoot to put up a extra large white tent and a mock of the set for the promo. I was told that as the people (the anchors of Fox and Friends) come out of commercial I would hear a knock on the door to my work shop and I should POP out the top window and I should hold a hammer. Well after I checked, all I needed was to POP up in the window, I was happier, as Santa would break at anything over 3 feet.



So it happened just that way, and the crowded loved it (about 30 kids and teenagers). I asked what was next, lets put it this way, they don't want the "talent" hurt so I hung around for a few more hours trying not to get in the way of the Set building.



I was told my hotel room (oh and I shared it with Jimmy who was building the Set) was ready, and I got to take a real nap before we all met for dinner. The room was very nice and I nap on the sofa ( the room had a small kitchen sofa and a king size bed.). Now Jimmy is a really nice guy, and he is bigger than Santa. so he got the bed for the night, and the "talent" got the sofa.



Saturday November 8th.



Set call was for 6am, and a cab was waiting for me as was Jimmy just encase I over slept. I arrived in the Green Room (which is Yellow) to get myself ready. I had to be ready for the camera call at 6:45 am, I was. Just after they had the "talent" in his Santa Chair I could see a bus load of kids heading for the Green Room to get ready for Santa. I was Micro phoned and had tiny camera mounted under/thru my beard. This is to capture the real shots of the kids just encase they were telling Santa something cool, they would break "in" the programming to show the kid and what they were saying. As far as what they said, only 1 was worth a break in, he was talking about his brother in Iraq and what HE wanted for Christmas.



Well for the next 3 hours I had 25 kids and there parents (parents were held in the background) I was asked for everything from Barbie and Bratz dolls to Xboxes. Oh and not let me forget the New Car (the kids are in 1st grade). After the 3 hour Fox and Friends, they have what is called "the Show after the Show" which is a live Web feed and it is posted on there web site. That was fun.


So after that was done I got to give all the kids a gift and it had a secret code - pink for girls and blue for boys. They had to tell me that 3 times. After the gifts I took alot of pictures of me and the kids and there mom or dad. I also went outside and greeted the group forming to see the "talent" and had even more pictures. One of the people in charge seemed upset I was doing this with the public, I saw his boss, and just off the cuff said " Man you can't buy this kind of publicity " He said I was so right and keep it up... Needless to say everything was better after the boss said it was OK.



I changed into street clothing and was ready to help take down the SET, but was told the "talent" could not be injured. So I watched 14hrs of set building be taken down and put away in 4 1/2 hours in the pouring rain. And just encase you wondered the "talent" was barely dampened. But my hair and beard frizzed out due to the rain, what am I to do, Do I hear MAKE UP???



Thanks for checking, and I will do more updating daily.



Bless you,



Santa Joe