1-1 Premeier Issue FINAL PROOF.pdf Holiday 2013 | Page 14

Photo Marth Manning

COVER STORY H CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12

Our cover kids: Sophie, Emily, Ole with Santa Al

Al Capehart was born and raised in
Richmond, Virginia. In his book, Behind Santa’s Smile: Twenty Years as Santa AL, he writes,
“From an early age I knew Santa Claus was
real.” He recounts many childhood memories focused on Christmas, several centering
on time spent assembling miniature train sets
with his father. He recalls December of 1941
when the Christmas music playing on their
radio paused and the attack on Pearl Harbor was announced, and the train sets were
packed away until his father returned from the
Navy 6 years later. He goes on to tell about
Christmas of 1948, when his “Aunt Millie”
told him that his parents were really Santa
Claus, but he continued to believe in Santa in
spite of that. That year, he received a bicycle
that he used to begin his career as a newspaper carrier, and he realized that Santa always
brought useful, life-changing gifts. The Spirit
of Santa Claus has always played a big part in
Santa AL’s life, with these childhood memories providing a foundation for the person he
was truly meant to become.

In 1957, Mr. Capehart moved to
North Carolina and completed several degrees which culminated in a Ph.D in Psychology from NCSU in 1987. In 1992, after several
years of doing different things, including running his own handyman business and helping
to found NC Rail-Trails, Mr. Capehart began

his career as Santa AL. He describes this not
as a conscious decision he made, but rather
as a calling. “I have been training all this time
to get here,” he says. Most of the Santas that
he knows feel that they have been called by
the Spirit of Santa Claus, and consider it a life
view. “The thing about Santa,” explains Santa
AL, “is that he is the Spirit of love and generosity.” Santa AL believes that the Spirit is a
compilation of every individual Santa’s heart,
life, and faith. Most importantly, he believes,
they have the joy and power of believing in
make believe, and this power enables them to
make things happen.

After becoming Santa AL, he discovered a problem: there were not enough Santas. “Santa AL was getting so many requests
that he couldn’t fulfill them,” he explains. He
did some recruiting and formed the Triangle
Santa Buddies. “What we have discovered
is that the more Santa