SIOUX CITY, Iowa, Dec. 2, 2009 — Sitting on Santa’s lap at a busy mall may conjure more stress than usual this year as reports of Swine Flu circulate wildly on the news, but parents and children can breathe a clean, germ-free sigh of relief knowing that they can still get their visit with Santa Claus in this year…. However, they no longer have to brave the mall. Santa can call them personally at home, by telephone: no long lines at a busy mall or hand sanitizer necessary.
Founded by a mom whose own children were skeptical of the authenticity of the local mall Santa, Anne Gaskell founded SantaSpeaking.com in 2004 and since then has provided tens of thousands of phone calls to children in the US and Canada. “Santa’s seasonal calendar started filling much earlier than usual with all of the reports of Swine Flu on the news shortly before Thanksgiving. We have about 35% more calls scheduled this season compared with this time last year,” said Gaskell, who herself has three children under the age of 9, all of whom enjoy speaking with Santa Claus by phone.
For those little ones who have “Santa Anxiety,” too, “Receiving a phone call from Santa can be much less threatening. We have parents emailing us after their calls telling us how happy they were that Santa was able to engage their child in the conversation. Children are allowed to experience the magic of Santa Claus in their own environment, which can be less threatening than seeing him in person at the mall,” said Gaskell.
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