Taking a picture with Santa at the mall is a time-honored tradition for many children, and these men in uniform take their jobs very seriously -- especially one mall Santa in Easton, Pa., who legally changed his name to Santa A. Claus. He shared his story on HuffPost Live.
"In 1982, I had a head-on collision, and I went back to college. And while I was in college, I had to support a wife and two children," Claus explained to host Nancy Redd. "People told me -- after I had the accident, I was laid up for 13 months -- that I gained all the weight and I looked better than the mall Santa."
Claus had dressed up as Santa in the past, but after his accident, he decided to make it official "At that point, I went to the local mall, got a job, I enjoyed it. I wanted to make it realistic for the children, so I went back to court, and tried changing it in court."
Though his first attempts at legally changing his name were denied, a federal judge advised him on the correct procedure. "So we went through it for the next 10 years, and in 1995, I was taken to the state capitol by a senator on my birthday, and in March of 1995, [I had] the final part of my ID change, and that's how it came to pass."
But Mrs. Claus isn't official yet. Dolores Allen, his wife, didn't end up changing her name. "It was too expensive," she said, adding, "At that time my parents were still alive and I had to keep my maiden name."