BUENA PARK : This Santa Visits Before the Big Day

Carrying a red sack filled with toys over his right shoulder and with a hearty “ho, ho, ho,” Santa Claus came to the Hatfield doorstep Sunday evening.

Santa’s two helpers jingled bells as the red-suited man knocked on the door.

“Ho, ho, ho, can we come in?” Santa said.

Inside, Travis Hatfield, 4, excitedly told his mother, Penny, it sounded like reindeer bells outside. He dashed to the door to take a peek. His mother ran for the video camera.

The front door of the Hatfield’s Buena Park home swung open and Travis couldn’t believe his eyes.

“Santa’s here!” he said.

Santa does make house calls in Buena Park, thanks to the Recreation, Parks and Community Services Department. For $15 for a 15-minute visit, residents may rent Santa for their Christmas parties or for just a Yuletide visit with their children. The jolly fellow is booked every night through Christmas Eve.

Inside the Hatfield house, Santa was plying his special magic. He took Travis onto his lap, though his 3-year-old sister, Samantha, curled up on the sofa, wanting nothing to do with the strange man.

Then Santa reached in his sack and pulled out two wrapped presents--a doll on roller skates for Samantha and a truck for Travis.

“Samantha, go see Santa Claus,” prompted Penny Hatfield, who was recording everything on the video camera while husband, Dan Hatfield, snapped pictures.

Samantha, shy and skeptical, still refused.

“That’s OK, it’s not the first time,” Santa said.

But by the end of his visit, Samantha, with a coy smile, was sitting on his lap. The bespectacled Santa gave the girl a hug and a smile as Penny Hatfield captured it all.

It was just another stop Sunday evening for Santa, played by Buena Park resident Richard Greer, a 30-year-old college student. He was accompanied by helpers Stacy McCay, a city recreation leader, and Serena Chase.

It is Greer’s second year as rent-a-Santa and he said he gets a kick out of playing the role--even if he has to add a pillow for extra padding.

“The kids always ask me, ‘Aren’t you supposed to be fatter?’ ” he said. “I say, ‘This is Santa Claus’ California look.’ ”

Greer confronts the job’s challenges with grace. He has to always be cheerful, patient and ready for anything--such as children tugging on his beard, asking him to show them his sleigh and reindeer, offering him a plate of chocolate chip cookies, or coping with the heat of his heavy corduroy get-up while visiting homes warmed by fireplaces and cranked-up heaters.

But he said seeing surprised faces on children makes it worthwhile.

“They have that look that (says), ‘I must be really special. Santa’s here to visit me before Christmas,’ ” Greer said.

Parents said they like having Santa come to their homes because it’s a personalized way for children to meet St. Nick.

“It’s better than standing in hour lines at the mall,” said Dan Hatfield. “Plus you can take all the pictures you want.”

Santa on Sunday also made a stop to see 2 1/2-year-old Shane Sagliano.

“Hi, Santa Claus,” Shane said with a broad smile, as he hopped onto his lap.

“Have you been good this year?” Santa asked.

The boy smiled and Santa handed him a wrapped present, which he tore open.

“It’s a car!,” he said.

His mother, Jenny Sagliano, said the home visit “is more personal than the mall,” it makes her son believe that Santa really does exist and so “it means more.”