AFTER more than 31 years as Santa Claus, John Wright thinks he may have heard it all.

“Oh you get the lot, I must have seen tens of thousands of children and I’ve been asked for anything from a rainbow to the sad stories where they want daddy to come back home,” he says.

“The weirdest thing I’ve been asked for this year is a potato. And someone else wanted a mushroom – just one.

“Someone else asked me for a polar bear. I had to tell them I don’t bring live animals, they jump out of the sleigh and we can’t have that.”

John, 68, believes he might be the longest-serving Santa in Canberra.

He says he’s worked as Santa for 31 years in many of the shopping malls around Canberra, but has settled into Westfield Woden where he’s been for 12 years.

“I always wanted to be Santa,” he says. “It’s a calling, I think.”

Back in the early days John says he would take annual leave to be able to fulfil Santa duties, because he felt it was an important thing to do.

“I saw a contestant on ‘Millionaire Hot Seat’ who was a Santa, and he said it was terrible, with all the beard pulling and kids who wet on him. And I thought, no you can’t say that. I love it all,” says John.

“There’s a bit of beard pulling but no one has ever wet on me, well maybe once but I think the child was already wet.

“It doesn’t worry me at all, none of it. You just have to make it fun and give every child your full attention and make sure the parents get the photo they want.

“I’m a fast Santa, too; I keep the line moving.”

John, who’s been a long-time foster carer with his wife Lorraine, says he’s always doing something and is never inactive. He works with children with intellectual disabilities and as a school assistant when it’s not Santa season.

“Before the season starts we go to a Santa training school in Sydney, as there are about 50 of us employed by Westfield all over Australia,” he says.

“About 20 per cent of them grow their own beards, so perhaps they don’t get quite so hot as those of us who wear the fake ones.”

John says it’s not always small children who come along to sit on his knee.

“An 82-year-old lady came in with her daughter to visit me and she had a lovely time and even initiated a bit of a kiss,” he says.

“I really do have a wonderful time, though physically it’s hands on.

“I love the variety of people I meet and the kids and parents are always fabulous.

“I’ll carry on for as long as I can.”