As the faces of “Claus for a Cause,” Jim Steinmetz, 71, and his wife Ann Steinmetz, 69, donate the money they make playing Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus to Breast Cancer Angels, which helps patients who are undergoing treatment meet their living expenses. So far the couple — who will have been married 53 years come January — has raised $175,000 since starting “Claus for a Cause” 10 years ago. At house parties, they whip out a red binder called “Santa’s Big Book” with information about the children’s interests that their parents have provided beforehand so that the youngsters think Santa knows all about them.
On Dec. 1, during the resort’s tree-lighting ceremony, the couple was handed a “Dear Santa” letter on looseleaf paper with missing words and run-on sentences that only a child living in 2013 could have written. It said:
“I am really sorry for lying to my parents about Instagram. I shouldn’t have got it before I had not asked them. It was definitely not worth it because now I can’t play on my iPad, iTouch, Xbox, or watch TV, until January 1st, so a month, and it is not fun to lie because then you think you said the wrong thing and feel guilty about until they find out.”