Christmas is right around the corner: music and movies full of the magic of this season start to fill the everyday life. This period brings joy to kids and adults. Kids wait for this time all year around. The snow, the food, no school, the presents and…Santa give happiness to their little hearts. Adults, instead, return to a child’s heart and see the world with eyes full of hope.
Christmas is not Christmas without Santa and McPherson has nothing less than the real one! Clifford Dorf, known by the community as Puff, has lived in McPherson for ten years. Since then he has given every kid of McPherson and surroundings a smile with his lovely red suit and his long white beard.
Puff was born in Hillsboro, Illinois and he started being Santa the first winter after his graduation from high school: he was only 18. “It wasn’t really a choice of mine” precised Puff, “They asked me to do it because they weren’t able to find any Santa in Hillsboro, my hometown, that year.”
For Puff this has been almost a lifelong commitment but he doesn’t regret it at all. “At first I wasn’t sure and I didn’t want to accept. I was scared that my friends would have made fun of me” he said. In the end he accepted and it was a good decision after all!
One of the most important characteristics of Santa is the long white beard. However Puff, due to his young age, used a fake beard for many years but since 2014, he has his own white beard. “The kids could tell that my beard wasn’t real,” he said laughing.
Santa’s workdays, especially in December, are very long. Every Saturday in December he works from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and he works on Christmas Eve as well. “My wife Debbie drives me around six or seven houses on Christmas Eve,” said Puff with lovely eyes looking at his wife. People reserve him in advance, even at the beginning of September. “They want to enter my schedule and it’s not easy, especially in December.” On the other hand, Santa has a lot of families and businesses that request his services. McPherson, Salina, Hutchinson, Newton and Wichita are only a couple of places where Puff gives joy and happiness.
Santa is magic but he still needs his elves and Puff has a very special elf: his wife Debbie. Debbie drives him around, helps him with the Santa suit and supports him. It’s not necessary to be Santa and to make a difference but Debbie is a great example.
Santa sometimes needs to rest and Puff took a break from the red suit for 14 years. “If Christmas in Hillsboro seems a little different next year, it will be because something is missing.” This is how the article of the local newspaper was announcing that Santa would have hung up his jingle bells. The current year was 1999 and Puff was still living in Hillsboro, Illinois.
It was hard for him to stop being Santa after 24 years. The hardest part about giving up his duties is missing the reaction of the kids when they see Santa. “That’s what it’s all about, those kids,” he said to the local newspaper.
“I missed the kids,” stated Puff. This is the reason why he decided to wear the red suit and the boots again. Since 2013, when he moved to McPherson, he has started to have his jingle bells ring again. He wanted to give joy again to these little kids. “My job is to serve them,” said Puff.
Christmas is a magical time and everything can happen. Santa’s favorite memory has something to do with magic. In his hometown that year there was a little kid from Germany. She didn’t speak English but Puff didn’t want to give up. “I attended a couple of years of German classes in high school,”said Santa, “I didn’t remember a lot because it was a long time ago but I tried to give that kid a smile and let her feel home”.
He asked what her name was and they counted together in German. Numbers were one of the only things he could remember from high school but that kid was so happy. “It was a long time but I still remember it, I wish I could meet her again,”said Santa with emotion.
Puff’s favorite movie is Miracle on the 34th street and there is a similar scene where Santa is trying to speak with a Dutch girl that doesn’t speak English. “The same thing happened to me with the German girl,” remembered Puff. Christmas is definitely a magic time.
Puff has been Santa for so long and he has seen a lot of changes in the kids. “When the children tell me what they want for Christmas, most of the time I don’t know what they asked me,” he said a little worried. Kids nowadays want the new Playstation, the Xbox or another technological device.
Another sad fact about the kids of this time is the believing age. “In the past I used to go to the schools from Kindergarten through 4th or 5th grade but now I go only until 1st or 2nd grade.” According to Puff, kids believe less in Santa because of all the technology they have access to. This is very sad because once they’ll be adults, they are going to miss the happiness and the carefreeness of the kids.
However, there still are a lot of kids that wait patiently for Santa every year. One of them is Bowen, a 4-year old little boy who can’t wait to see Santa knock at his house. He knows exactly when Santa is there, “I hear his jingle bells!” he said, excited.
Like Bowen, thousands of kids and adults love Santa and all the joy of Christmas time. “During this season people are more giving. It’s definitely a happy time,” said Puff. In this season the weather gets colder but everyone’s heart gets warmer.
