Playing Santa : Two Men Bring Christmas Cheer Posing as St. Nick for Fun, Not Profit

Abel Stone is so excited about Santa Claus, it’s hard to sleep at night.

Ken Lumenello can’t wait to start opening presents.

Stone is 74 and Lumenello is 62--a little old to believe in Santa. But for Stone and Lumenello, jolly old St. Nick isn’t a belief. He’s the guy in the mirror each December.

The high point of the men’s Christmas season is playing Santa. The two, who aren’t acquainted, have developed itineraries of parties, friends’ homes, parks and churches where they visit children, dispensing presents and a hearty “Ho, ho, ho!” They never charge for their work.

“That’s why I started doing it,” said Lumenello, who is in his 33rd year as Santa. “I hated the commercialization involving kids with these Santa Clauses in stores. To me, it was strictly commercial, to sell a picture to the parents.”

Over the years, Lumenello, who lives in North Hollywood, has played Santa in the weeks before Christmas for a variety of charities, children’s homes and other organizations, many of which help mentally retarded children. Lumenello has two retarded sons. He reserves Christmas Eve for visits to the families on his block. Before entering many of the homes, he fills his sack with presents that parents have left on the doorstep.

He said his Santa style is to mingle.

“I get on the floor with the kids, open presents with them, play with toys with them. I let them play with my beard and comb it. I take my hat off and put it on them.

“Now I’m on the second generation,” Lumenello said. “I’m doing it for the kids of the kids I used to do.”

Stone is in his fifth year of playing Santa, and he operates on a large scale. The Sherman Oaks man has scheduled 12 parties this year and estimates that 7,000 children will receive presents. Many of his parties are so big that he takes a band of friends dressed as elves who play with children during the wait to see Santa. Most of the parties are held at parks or churches in poor neighborhoods.

“Last year, we got 600 or 700 kids,” said Joseph Dickson, director of the Pacoima Recreation Center. “He brings the elves, the presents, everything. For some of these kids, it’s the only presents they get for Christmas.”

Stone said he spends about $6,000 a year for toys and dolls, half of it his money and the rest donated by friends. A retired furniture manufacturer’s representative, Stone said his familiarity with wholesale operations helps him get large batches of toys at discount or for free.

“I pester toy reps, and they give me samples,” he said. “One maker gave me 500 dolls. This way, each child gets lots of toys. There are the small ones the elves give, and then everyone gets at least one big one from me.”

Stone keeps the presents in a rented storage space. In addition to recreation centers and churches in the San Fernando Valley, his circuit of stops includes a park in East Los Angeles and a party given by the organization Love Is Feeding Everyone.

Stone’s original idea was to deliver presents to hospitalized children. He said he dressed as Santa, took a batch of gifts to one of the larger hospitals and was directed to a room already overflowing with toys.

“It looked like Toys R Us,” he said. “They could have given each child a toy every day and not run out in a year. I knew there had to be kids somewhere who weren’t getting anything.”

There was a second problem at the hospital.

“They didn’t let me go to the rooms and deliver the toys,” said Stone, who is divorced and has five grandchildren. “They told me to just leave them in the toy room. That was no good. I’m a pied piper. I wanted to hand them out and play with the children.”

Stone said he sought out contacts in poor areas and the result was worthwhile.

“To see a child look up at you and say ‘Thank you,’ no matter what language they’re using, it tears you up. There’s no other feeling like it.”

He said he takes some ribbing for being a Jewish Santa Claus, but never from children.

“The kids don’t know, and they wouldn’t care anyway,” he said.

Gaining Confidence

One of Lumenello’s memorable stints as Santa took place a few years ago at a party held at a home for abused children.

“We had a little girl who had been battered,” he remembered. “Her father was beating her up, and she came into the home the night before. She was so afraid of me, she wouldn’t come near. But by the time I left, she was hanging all over me.”

In overcoming a child’s shyness or fear, it helps to have a good, brightly colored Santa suit. The outfits get shabby with time, and both men are on their third ones. Stone buys the suits, while Lumenello makes his with help from his wife.

“It’s designed so I can take the cap off and put it on the kids and still have a head of white hair, even though I’m kind of bald,” he said.

Lumenello played Santa last year for a children’s party at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Northridge.

“We used various church members before, but Ken is the first one who was an authentic-looking Santa Claus,” said Tom Pallad, music director at the church. “His costume is so realistic, it’s amazing. When the jingle bells sound and he shows up, the kids really get excited.”

This year, the church recruited Lumenello not only for the party, but for a Christmas play as well.

An engineer at Lockheed, Lumenello said he is looking forward to retirement next year because he will have more time to play Santa for children.

“The truth,” he said, “is that I enjoy it more than they do.”