In San Diego's Seaport Village there's a Santa who arrives wearing shorts & flip flops. In Capitola in Santa Cruz County, a surfing santa arrives onto shore in a kayak. His elves row him gently onto the sand, where a beach chair awaits his inspection. This where Beach Santa will sit for a while and listen to the locals tell stories about the great waves they caught rides on, or a surfboard or O'Neill wetsuit on a kid's wish list...

Each year the Capitola Chamber of Commerce sponsors the Surfing Santa arrival and invites the public to take photos of the beach scene in November just before Christmas-Santa wearing tropical attire & sunglasses-and you're supposed to email your images to your loved ones in Minnesota or some place back east. It's like rubbing rock salt into those Minnesota snow shovel blisters while you shake the sand from your feet. Ho ho ho.

If you've never seen Capitola by the Sea, Christmas is as good a time as any to visit and tell Surfing Santa about your wish list.