Landon Haglund confides in Santa Claus at the Moorhead Center Mall. (Photo/Nancy Hanson.)
Nancy Edmonds Hanson
When the very young picture Santa Claus coming to town, they think of a sleigh and eight tiny reindeer soaring over the North Pole.
But no — the jolly old elf who has been hearing their wishes every weekend this month arrives from Bismarck … in a Dodge Ram pickup.
He’ll make the trip for the final time of 2022 tomorrow. Then Santa Dennis Jangula will be on hand in the atrium of the mall from 2 to 5 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, ready to reflect on the wishes of boys and girls dreaming of a visit on Christmas Eve.
Unlike visits to the Santa Clauses stationed at other shopping centers, parents are welcome to take their own photographs of kids with the bushy-bearded man in red at the Moorhead mall. There’s no need to purchase packages of photographs to qualify kids to sit on his lap and whisper in his ear. Instead, visitors are simply invited to bring free-will food donations for the Emergency Food Pantry.
Jangula has been making weekly forays across North Dakota to play the role of Moorhead’s Santa for the last dozen years. He and wife Joyce stay with their daughter Jolene and 15-year-old granddaughter Sophia in Gardner during their weekends across the river.
Dennis debuted in the holiday role back in Bismarck. “The manager spotted me in their mall and asked if I wanted to play Santa for her,” he remembers. That was 17 years ago. He was recruited to reprise the role here five years later … and loves it.
“I recognize some of the parents pretty good,” he reports, “but not so much the kids. They change so much.” Nevertheless, he has watched babies turn into 10-year-olds; parents often remind him of regular visits over the years.
Some of the children who come to see him are scared out of their wits. “Sometimes they’re terrified,” he smiles, “and won’t get within 5 feet of me.
“But lots fall in love right away.” One special young man comes to mind; though he’s a young teen today, his grandmother still brings him. “He’s getting a little big, but I let him kiss me on the forehead,” Jangula confides.
He tells of youngsters who come running at first sight as he awaits them in the mall’s atrium. “When I spot them, I know I’ve got to get ready. They come running with their coats flying out behind them. I know it’s going to be a hard hit.”
Most of the Christmas lists they eagerly share are fairly predictable … but not all of them. He cites the 5-year-old who, several years ago, told him he wanted a combine.
“I asked him, ‘A toy combine?’” Jangula reports. “He told me, ‘No, I want a real one.’ He even told me the make and model he wanted,” Jangular recounts.
“I warned him it wouldn’t fit down his chimney,” he goes on. “But he said that wouldn’t be a problem: ‘I asked Dad to make the quonset door bigger.’”
About that trusty Ram pickup: It doesn’t quite fit the Santa narrative, but this Santa has a ready answer. “When kids ask about the reindeer, I tell them about Rudolph’s bright red nose,” he says. “When you touch it, the sleigh and team can fly so fast that you can’t see them.”
