Sioux Cityan shares Christmas cheer
This 'Santa' buys and wraps 600 gifts, then gives them away in local bars
By Tim Gallagher Journal staff writer | Posted: Saturday, December 08, 2007
SIOUX CITY -- After a mall rampage, the season's first winter storms and more Middle East strife, you need a dose of holiday cheer.
You need Peggy Miller.
Miller, 33, is salt of the earth. Make that sugar of the earth. She cleans houses, bakes sweet treats and manages a bakery outlet. Loves her husband, parents and extended family. Tonight, that family includes 600 people.
How so? Miller and her band of reindeer and merry elves will bounce from bar to bar this evening, distributing small Christmas gifts to people they barely know. A fellow down on his luck tonight might order a screwdriver and get two: One from the bartender (a drink) and one from Miller (a tool).
She does this every Christmas. She buys small gifts, wraps 'em and hands them out the second Saturday of December. There's no campaign, no publicity, at least until now. And no ulterior motive.
Just "Ho! Ho! Ho!" and keep on smiling!
"I started doing this nine years ago after my mom, Pat Hofstatter, found a Santa suit on clearance," Miller said with an infectious giggle. "She didn't want to buy it, but I told her I'd use it."
She donned the giant red getup on the second Saturday in December that year and got a holiday rush while handing out Hershey's kisses and candy canes at the old Stagecoach bar.
Over the years she added Miles Inn, The Huddle, Marty's Tap and The Doghouse to Santa's list of stops. She also started buying small gifts for folks at these saloons, places where folks like Miller shrug off the workaday world with a few cold ones.
"I love to give," Miller explained. "There are some people who don't have squat, and a pair of work gloves might mean the world to them."
For the past several years, Miller, her family and her friends have collected Christmas gifts throughout the year. They convene in late autumn and wrap. They also make name tags for themselves in preparation for the big night. And that's tonight.
"We meet at Miles Inn at 4 o'clock and our bus (yes, they have a bus!) leaves at 7 p.m.," said Miller, one of the group's designated drivers.
Miller, who plays Santa, will be joined by a special guest tonight as her grandmother, Thelma Timmins, 73, of Sioux City, plans to play Mrs. Claus. Timmins has baked Christmas goodies for Miller's "reindeer" and "elves," who will hand out such gifts as lottery tickets, work gloves, candles, ornaments, chewing gum and tools to revelers at Jac's Bar, The Saratoga, Harmony Lanes, Jim's Lounge and Fourth Street Bar & Grille.
They'll also stop at the home of Miller's in-laws, Mary and Roger Miller of Sioux City, to sing Christmas carols for Mary, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and cannot travel along.
"Lots of people think the bars have hired us to do this, but they haven't," Miller said while wrapping garland around a name tag for one of her helpers. "It's just fun to give. Our bags are always overflowing."
You need Peggy Miller.
Miller, 33, is salt of the earth. Make that sugar of the earth. She cleans houses, bakes sweet treats and manages a bakery outlet. Loves her husband, parents and extended family. Tonight, that family includes 600 people.
How so? Miller and her band of reindeer and merry elves will bounce from bar to bar this evening, distributing small Christmas gifts to people they barely know. A fellow down on his luck tonight might order a screwdriver and get two: One from the bartender (a drink) and one from Miller (a tool).
She does this every Christmas. She buys small gifts, wraps 'em and hands them out the second Saturday of December. There's no campaign, no publicity, at least until now. And no ulterior motive.
Just "Ho! Ho! Ho!" and keep on smiling!
"I started doing this nine years ago after my mom, Pat Hofstatter, found a Santa suit on clearance," Miller said with an infectious giggle. "She didn't want to buy it, but I told her I'd use it."
She donned the giant red getup on the second Saturday in December that year and got a holiday rush while handing out Hershey's kisses and candy canes at the old Stagecoach bar.
Over the years she added Miles Inn, The Huddle, Marty's Tap and The Doghouse to Santa's list of stops. She also started buying small gifts for folks at these saloons, places where folks like Miller shrug off the workaday world with a few cold ones.
"I love to give," Miller explained. "There are some people who don't have squat, and a pair of work gloves might mean the world to them."
For the past several years, Miller, her family and her friends have collected Christmas gifts throughout the year. They convene in late autumn and wrap. They also make name tags for themselves in preparation for the big night. And that's tonight.
"We meet at Miles Inn at 4 o'clock and our bus (yes, they have a bus!) leaves at 7 p.m.," said Miller, one of the group's designated drivers.
Miller, who plays Santa, will be joined by a special guest tonight as her grandmother, Thelma Timmins, 73, of Sioux City, plans to play Mrs. Claus. Timmins has baked Christmas goodies for Miller's "reindeer" and "elves," who will hand out such gifts as lottery tickets, work gloves, candles, ornaments, chewing gum and tools to revelers at Jac's Bar, The Saratoga, Harmony Lanes, Jim's Lounge and Fourth Street Bar & Grille.
They'll also stop at the home of Miller's in-laws, Mary and Roger Miller of Sioux City, to sing Christmas carols for Mary, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and cannot travel along.
"Lots of people think the bars have hired us to do this, but they haven't," Miller said while wrapping garland around a name tag for one of her helpers. "It's just fun to give. Our bags are always overflowing."
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longkgl wrote on Dec 10, 2007 11:05 AM:
Naughty or nice wrote on Dec 9, 2007 7:54 PM:
Docswife wrote on Dec 8, 2007 12:04 PM: