NEIGHBORS / SHORT TAKES : Claus of Life : Short--or tall--the jolly old elf learns about leg lifts and long lists from personal experience or personnel training.

Christmas spirit is alive and well in Ventura County. As evidence we present this comment, overheard coming from a checker at a local Sav-On Drugs store:

“God, I hate that.”

The remark was in reference to the ting-a-linging of the Salvation Army holiday donation bell, which was being rung just outside the store.

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Don’t expect to see your favorite department store Santa wrapping his arms around your child and lifting the youngster into the air.

“Can you imagine Santa lifting 500 children a day?” asked Sandi Ruben, personnel coordinator at the Western Temporary Services office in Thousand Oaks. “We teach them the Santa Leg Lift, where Santa puts his leg out, the child sits down on it and Santa lifts it up--so Santa isn’t home Christmas Eve with a bad back.”

Western Temporary Services trained 15 Santas and sent them to malls and shopping centers throughout Southern California. Ruben said this season’s Santas come in all ages (one guy has been Santa for 27 years, others are college students) and shapes (one is 6 feet, 5 inches tall and one stands at five feet even).

Does a five-foot Santa really do the trick? “If you really stop and think a second,” said Ruben, “the story of Santa is that he’s a jolly old elf.”

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More Claus for thought: That 6-foot, 5-inch Santa we mentioned goes by the name Fred Helsel in his off hours. The 27-year-old Camarillo resident has been a Santa for five years, the first three of which he spent in Pennsylvania.

Has Helsel (as Santa) noticed any difference between kids in Ventura County and those back east?

“Out here, you have a lot more versatility in children,” Helsel/Santa said. “Some are asking for high-priced items because they’re used to affluent homes, and there are also Hispanic children not used to as much.”

Back in Pennsylvania, he added, “you have a general middle class; you don’t get asked for too pricey items, but you also don’t get asked for simple things.”

Despite his relatively short Santa tenure, Helsel has picked up a trick or two of the trade. “I learned not to ask children for the entire list of things they want for Christmas,” he said. “They’ll stay there 20 minutes if they can.”

Note: On Saturday, Santa Helsel will be at the Santa’s Care Depot at North Ranch Mall, at Thousand Oaks and Westlake boulevards. The volunteers at the Depot will be collecting food and personal items for the MANNA food bank of the Conejo Valley. Toys can also be dropped off there for the U. S. Marine Corps’ Toys for Tots program. Santa is expected to visit from noon to 3 p.m.

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Sure Santa is busy this time of year, but the guy does have his share of little helpers. Sandy Salisbury of Newbury Park is one of them.

Salisbury recently began a business called Grand Slam Graphics, and so far much of her work has involved printing and sending Letters From Santa. “It’s a set of three letters from Santa that go out on different dates,” she said.

The first mailing to the children went out Dec. 1. “It said that he hopes they’ve been good, what Rudolph has been doing,” she said. “It tells about the toy factory.”

Letter No. 2, which will go out Dec. 18, will come with a personalized message from the jolly old elf saying that he will be visiting soon.

The third correspondence will go out shortly after Christmas.

“He says he hopes they’re taking good care of their toys and they are putting them away when they’re done,” Salisbury said.

“He hopes they are getting what they wanted and that he’s ready for a long nap.”