STANLEY MARKETPLACE, Denver — Yama, Luna, Ayrton, Campbell, Nora, Boswell. They're all experts on the subject of joy. They're all either 5, 6, or 7 years old, and they all visited the Stanley Marketplace at one time or another in December to visit Santa.
If you went every weekend day this month, you'd see the same Santa chair and the same photographer, but Santa changed a little from day to day.
Ally Fredeen from the Stanley says, "We're offering something different and unexpected and while we might have your traditional St. Nick and traditional experience, there's also that unexpected and that really fun element of a Santa experience you didn't expect or that cultural element where Santa might speak Spanish, or sign to you."
On this Saturday, the unexpected came in the form of "Auntie Santa", who was dressed in drag.
"We knew Auntie Santa was here today. We came from Longmont so we could see something different. It's important to show that everybody matters", said Hope Bartlett while holding her little girl Campbell.
'Ho ho ho' feels the same in any language and bilingual Santa was a happy surprise for Erica, who brought her son Ayrton.
Erica waited 3 years to adopt and in May, Erica adopted Ayrton when he was two days old.
"Our son is from Guatamala. It's nice to have a Spanish speaking Santa because we want to honor his culture," said Erica.
With every Santa comes another story from the usually long line.
Nicole and Patrick Magloire worried that their son Boswell would be overwhelmed with all the lights and jingling bells and cameras downstairs. So they made an appointment with Sensory Santa upstairs.
Boswell and Santa bonded and this time, it was the parents who were crying.
"Now that he's older I didn't know how he'd respond to Santa so I thought it would be good to ease into it. It was a good decision", Nicole said.
It turns out that the difference between all the different Santas, makes no difference to the kids.
