The Agelessness of Holiday Cheer

Not all Christmas dreams and wishes can be granted--especially by a make-believe Santa.

A 5-year-old boy sitting on my knee pleaded for his dad’s return home for the holidays. The father, I later found out, is on military duty in the Persian Gulf.

A 7-year-old girl shyly asked Santa for a baby brother. I explained that Santa delivers toys, not tots.

Then there were the Christmas wishes that Anthony Moore and Wilbert Moten whispered in my ear the other day in Inglewood. Moore and Moten are roommates at the Kaiser Permanente Skilled Nursing Facility, a hospital on Manchester Boulevard for patients recuperating from such injuries and illnesses as heart disease, cancer, stroke and amputation.

“For Christmas I’d like to have my health back,” said Moore, 75.

“I wish Santa would bring me my prostheses,” said Moten, 56, a legless patient.

Santa had taken a day off from shopping center duty to visit with 40 convalescing patients at the hospital and in private homes in the Los Angeles area. Like most of the other patients I met on my rounds, Moten and Moore beamed when I stepped into their room and distributed candy canes and gifts.

“For Christmas, I want to go home!” said William Minger, 83. He laughed when I replied that I’d try to send reindeer and a sleigh around to pick him up.

Milton Keep, 66, was in the hospital dining room when Santa asked if he had been a good boy during the past year.

“Hmmm . . . let me think it over,” Keep said. When several other patients laughed at his uncertainty, Keep turned red and grew more decisive. “Well, I think so, yes. Yes!”

Pearl Higley, 78, said she had also been good. “I gave a donation to the L.A. Mission,” she explained.

Other patients confessed good-naturedly that they had been naughty in ’90. This Santa doesn’t discriminate. I reached into my big red bag and fished out gifts of hand lotion and pens and striped candy canes. Eagle-eyed nurses quickly retrieved the candy from those on restricted diets.

John Cascio, 67, asked nurses to snap a picture of Santa kneeling next to his wheelchair. “It’s for my grandchildren,” he said.

Andrew Speed, 77, a bedridden patient, had a more serious wish. “I hope to see you next year,” he said.

“Santa spreads a lot of joy to people. Thanks,” said Stella Zaltman, 67, who perked up when this Santa entered her room.

Hospital administrator Ve’Lores Thompson said that Christmastime visits by Santa and volunteer caroling groups lift the spirits of adult patients as well as children.

“This is a time of year when patients experience an emotional tug of war. People want to be home for the holidays,” Thompson said.

I was escorted on my visit by Leslie Eisner, a manager of Western Medical Services, a firm that supplies medical workers to hospitals and home care assignments. She led Santa by car to the San Fernando Valley, where she introduced Northridge resident Bobby Masterson. Masterson’s arms and legs were paralyzed five years ago when he fell off a ladder while working as a carpenter. Through daily therapy, he is slowly regaining his speech and partial use of his limbs.

“I have all the wonderful gifts I can use,” Masterson, 29, said. “What I want for Christmas is a hearing aid for my mother. She works two jobs--at K mart and as a caterer for parties. She works too hard.”

Slowly, Masterson handed me a Christmas card he had designed. Its wish was for a joyful Christmas--and a safe New Year. When it was time to leave, Masterson hugged me.

Santa hugged back. “Santa loves you, Bobby,” I said.

“The whole world,” he replied, “loves Santa.”