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Hallmark star Kristoffer Polaha recently opened up about his kids and Santa. The We Wish You A Married Christmas actor has revealed in an interview that he loves learning about other people’s Christmas and holiday traditions. However, while this is something Polaha is interested in, he said he’s not in the market for a new tradition, because he loves what his family does.
Kristoffer Polaha reveals how his kids found out that Santa Claus is real
Kristoffer, 45, opened up to TV Fanatic about Christmas and holiday traditions, saying he is always interested in them. However, he and his family have their own traditions and they won’t change any time soon. In fact, Polaha said:
Our Christmas is locked in. So we’re not really in the market for new traditions because of what we have, and we like what we do. But it’s always fun to add.
Speaking of the Hallmark Christmas movies in which he has starred, he said it’s fun to “jump into these other lives” and see these other traditions. He also mentioned the gingerbread competition, or the little Christmas flea market thing, adding:
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It’s kind of a treat for me as an actor to go and be a part of that.
Hallmark actor reveals his family’s traditions
Many families like to keep up the myth of Santa Claus, his elves and reindeer for as long as possible, or until the kids catch on. In the interview, Kristoffer revealed his own family’s cool way of finding out that Santa Claus is the real deal. He said:
If you catch Santa Claus delivering Christmas presents, he – because you know the gig is up, and you’ve seen him, and you know he is real – he just hand delivers Christmas presents to you and then to your children, and then to your children’s children and on and on and on.
So a long, long time ago, my wife’s grandfather – he grew up in this little house in Florida – woke up one Christmas night, Christmas Eve night, and saw Santa Claus putting presents under the tree.
Speaking further about the origins of their Santa story, he added: “His name was Tricky Lamere; I can’t even make this up. That’s truly his name. His name was Tricky Lamere. And because old Tricky saw Santa Claus, Santa Claus made a deal with Tricky, and then his daughter and her daughter, my wife, and then our kids. And I’m sure that our kids’ kids will then get to have actual visits from Santa Claus.”
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Christmas at the Polaha house
Kristoffer is married to Julianne Morris and between them, they have three boys: Micah, Jude, and Kristoffer Caleb.
Polaha explained that on Christmas Eve, Santa Claus comes to their house to hand deliver the presents to them, and “then he bails.” Kristoffer added that there is a thing about Santa, saying what you see on television is totally wrong about him. He added:
He’s not boisterous. He’s not loud. He is not this like, ‘Ho, ho, ho. Merry Christmas.’
He doesn’t talk. He’s very shy. He’s very elf-like. He’s big. He’s a grown man size. And the reindeer parked in a place where you can’t see them on the roof, and he’ll just appear. He’ll just be in your front yard, and he’ll kind of come out of the darkness and hand you a gift, and then he’ll disappear for a minute.
Polaha added that in a way, it’s “kind of scary,” with a “little bit of intensity to the night.” He also said it is a quick, 10-minute visit and he “just does his thing.” Meanwhile, he lets you take a couple of pictures with him, and they he is off as he obviously has a big job to do that night, adding, “And so that’s what we do.”
The star of several Hallmark Mystery 101 movies was then asked if he was the one, dressing up as Santa, to which he replied:
No, I’m telling you that it is Santa Claus. It’s not me. It’s not a friend. I’m telling you, Santa Claus. That’s the point. So you see him. He shows up. I mean, it’s kind of an amazing thing.
Kristoffer Polaha’s kids’ first encounter with Santa
Kris continued to explain how his kids enjoyed their first encounter with Santa. He said, at first, they freaked out and went to hide, as it is a little scary. However, he said the next year, they were excited in anticipation of Santa showing up. The talented storyteller said that first, you hear the bells, and then this figure emerges out of the darkness, and he is “jolly old St. Nick.”
And then his gifts come wrapped, but individual. I don’t know where he gets them from. He’ll like walk, and then all of a sudden, he’ll come up with a gift. He’ll go to a different part of the yard, and then he’ll bring a gift from it.
He added that he doesn’t know if the gifts are manifested. Polaha also doesn’t know if elves are doing it. While Kris doesn’t know what goes on, he brings each kid a few gifts, wrapped individually for the child. He added that he guesses Santa knows which gift goes to which child, adding that “it’s magical.”
Christmas at the Polaha household sounds magical indeed. Readers, do your kids still believe in Santa Claus? Let us know by dropping a comment below.