April 5, 2012 scottcjones

The telephone number belonged to a New Jersey-based company named Blossom Hills. An overly excited Blossom Hills representative named Florence explained to me over the phone that her company specialized in “making holiday magic.” It went about accomplishing this incredible feat by placing something called “Santa Squads” in every shopping mall in every State from Maryland to Maine. “A Santa Squad’s job is to bring joy to children of all ages wherever it goes,” Florence said. Each squad consisted of three members: Helper Elf, Photographer Elf, and Santa. Before Florence could even finish asking which Squad member I was interested…