Christmas in July? St. John's 'Santa assistant' honoured at international Santa convention

The weather in St. John'smay be reminding some people of December, but one man from the city reallygot into the Christmas spirit last week.

Bruce Templeton wasgiven a special recognition at the Discover Santa conference a gatheringof Santas from all around the world last weekendin Branson, Mo.

"There wasn't a whole lot of milk and cookies left in Branson when we finished on Sunday night," Bruce Templeton told CBC Radio's St. John's Morning Show.

Templeton stood out among the 800-or-so "Santa assistants" their preferred title when he wasbestowed with the rare honour of an inductioninto the Knights of St. Nicholas.

"It's a special group of people whose mission really is to keep Christ in Christmas,and it's not done lightly," he said, adding there's less than 14 suchknights in the world.

Templeton said the knights aren't solely focused on Christianity, but reinforcing that there's more to the holiday than commercialization or presents.

Special Santa visits

Templeton,the only living Canadian in the International Santa Claus of Hall of Fame,said the conference helped connect with colleagues about the unique challenges of their work.

"What we spent alot time talking aboutwas hospice visits, visits to palliative care, and the time that we spend in children's hospitalsleading up to Christmas," he said.

"Some of the visits, this may be the child's last visit with Santa. And there's a lot ofthought and a lot of work goes into that," he said.

Each year Templeton spends Christmas Eve at the Janeway, checking in withevery ward to make sure each child there sees Santa. But he doesn't put an age limit on his visits.

"The smallest baby I've ever seen was 437 grams, and last year Santa hugged a lady that was 102," he said.

• St. John's Santa writes book about experiences

When he's not in his red wool suit, Templetonwriteschildren's books, with a portion of the proceeds going towards helping children receive polio vaccinations he estimated about 300,000 children have been treatedso far.

His latest book, Santa's24 Teddy Bears, is due out this fall.