This morning on TODAY, Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb brought Mr. Claus into Studio 1A to spread Christmas cheer. "We decided every time we had a sad or grumpy story," Hoda explained, "we were going to have one shot of Santa."
"The happiest guy on the planet!" Kathie Lee chimed in.
TODAY.com was backstage, and we can attest: There was not an iota of bah humbug about this Kris Kringle. In fact, he didn't break character once, not even when the cameras stopped rolling. He merrily laughed, "Ho ho ho," to the stage managers and jingled his tambourine for the production assistants.
While some Santas can be scary, ours was infectiously jolly. He had a real beard, a full belly, and naturally rosy red cheeks... say, did Kathie Lee and Hoda find the real Santa Claus?
This one SAID he came uptown from Macy's, but we suspect (as does Hoda's niece, Hannah, who appeared with him on the show) that he came from somewhere considerably farther north!
Can't get enough of Mr. Claus? Here are some more Santa stories: