Santa Charles Graves is deaf and travels the US to give deaf and non-speaking children the opportunity to share their wishes with the North Pole team
Growing up, Charles Graves “never got a chance to tell Santa what I wanted for Christmas,” he says.
Graves, 53, is deaf and tells PEOPLE that his family didn’t sign when he was a child (not an uncommon situation, according to the National Association of the Deaf).
“My Christmas memories consist of watching my siblings chat with Santa while I only got a thumbs up and a pat on the back,” he recalls. “That reality holds true for children around the world.”
To help solve that problem, Graves and his wife, Kari, 47, who is also deaf, now travel the U.S. as Santa and Mrs. Claus to spread holiday cheer among children, signing in American Sign Language.
“Every child deserves to see a Santa they can understand and relate to,” says Graves.
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The Gaylord National Resort near Washington, DC, is one of Graves’ stops each year, along with several other Gaylord resorts and some places in his home state of Texas. “We’re grateful that there’s enough acceptance to outweigh the ‘no,'” he says of booking jobs each season.
Grandfather Charles with Keivonna Woodard and his mother April Jackson-Woodard at Gaylord National Resort in 2023.
Anthony Mowl
Like many of his colleagues, Graves — who is also an educator at the Texas School for the Deaf in Austin — attended “Santa Claus school” and says he keeps busy thinking about Christmas “when no one else is” ahead of each holiday season.
However, “at the very end of the day, when I sit with the kids and connect with them, that’s why I do this,” he says.
It is especially important to do it with your wife, he adds. “I could never be Santa without my Mrs. Claus,” he says.
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While he enjoys “every interaction” he has with the kids he meets, Graves says he loves seeing how parents react when he clicks with their kids.
“When I see the joy on the parents’ faces outweigh the awe in the children’s eyes,” he says, “I know we’re making a deep memory.”
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Source: HIS Education