Thanks, Santa

During two decades as Santa Claus, Grant Wilson had an answer for every tough question.

"Where are the reindeer?"

There are too many deer hunters around Hickory. He has to keep Dancer, Prancer and all the rest hidden.

"What's Santa doing on a tractor?"

Santa has to eat, too, and the North Pole is no place to grow a garden. The house on Airport Rhodhiss Road is Santa's summer home.

This year, the question is heartbreaking.

What if Santa is too sick to deliver toys and spread joy this Christmas?

Wilson has an answer for that one, too.

Santa has lots of helpers to do his job this year, he promises the children.

In September, doctors diagnosed Wilson with stage four colorectal cancer, the most advanced stage of the illness. The disease has left him too weak to walk. It has robbed him of the padding Santa needs.

It has not erased his Christmas spirit.

Dawn of St. Nick

Wilson stood in for the jolly old elf for 21 years. He and wife Christine, aka Mrs. Claus, donned their fur-trimmed suits to star in Christmas parades and tree-lighting events and visit schools, fire departments, doctors' offices and nursing homes.

The Wilsons also hosted an annual open house. It gave hundreds of area children a welcoming lap and a listening ear for holiday wish lists. Grant Wilson has gone through three red velvet suits since 1987, retiring them with knees shiny from generations of children sliding across his lap.

"I really love the children," Grant Wilson says. "They're like a family, all of them."

The open house has long showed off the "summer home," as well. There, Christine Wilson decorates every room with trees, garland, twinkling lights, a 20-plus-foot-long miniature Christmas village and all manners of holiday decor.

Grant Wilson insisted his wife decorate this year, too. Greenery, lights and ornaments surround his hospital-type bed in the sunroom. Almost every day now, visitors are parading through to wish him well and share their prayers. He makes sure they look at the trees and take in the dozens of miniature Santa dolls that dance, sing, blow bubbles, lift peppermint-candy-striped weights, even parachute across the bathroom ceiling.

The Wilson place became Hickory's Santa central in 1987, before the family finished building the house. Grant Wilson was working in Newport News, Va. Christine Wilson and son Stephen were in Hickory. She decided a 100-year-old tree in front of the house-in-progress would make a lovely Christmas display.

Her plan to put lights on the giant evergreen, every bit of 50 feet tall, Grant says, captured the imagination of neighborhood kids. They spread the word at school and talked it up to their parents.

When people started calling Christine Wilson, she decided to make her tree a community Christmas tree. Children and parents brought hundreds of strands of lights. It took a crane to reach the top.

Grant Wilson soon got in on the action. He remembered his brother bringing him oranges every year for Christmas. So he found a red costume and a white sack of fruit. He started driving home from Virginia to visit with kids for Christmas.

And a Santa was born.

Just being Claus

Grant Wilson put the saint in St. Nicholas, said Rhodhiss Mayor Rick Justice.

He's often broken out his barbecue cooker to make eastern-style pork, selling the meat to raise money for people and causes.

"I couldn't tell you the number of fundraisers he and his wife have had for people who've been sick or just down and out," Justice says. "He's been the Johnny on the spot anytime there's been anybody in the least bit of distress. He's just been this community's knight in shining armor."

Grant Wilson has carried pounds upon pounds of tomatoes, corn, melons and more from his garden to neighbors, Justice said.

Wilson and his granddaughter, Taylor Wilson, often worked a booth to sell the fresh produce.

"He gives away more than he sells," says 11-year-old Taylor.

This year, Grant Wilson gave away all the trophies he won racing at Tri-County Motor Speedway in his youth. He donated them to Icard First Baptist for a play, and then let the kids keep them.

The good deeds, in and out of the Santa suit, spurred Justice and Rhodhiss Ruritan Club members to organize a parade during Grant and Christine Wilson Appreciation Day, scheduled for 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday.

The procession will begin around 2 p.m. on the Caldwell County side of Rhodhiss on West Caldwell Drive, cross the bridge into Burke County onto Burke Street and end on Airport Rhodhiss Road, passing by the Wilson home.

Sunday's events will take the place of the annual Wilson open house.

Christine Wilson will still welcome people into her home, although her husband's illness means anyone who is sick, no matter how slightly, should stay outside the house.

Since Santa won't be well enough to accept visitors on his lap, the Wilsons will have a Leave a Note for Santa station.

"Most of the time, we wait until it's too late to honor somebody," Justice said. "Grant has always been there and been so timely, we want to recognize him while he's still here."

Hanging up the suit

Christine Wilson doesn't think she'll slip into her Mrs. Claus outfit for Wilson Appreciation Day and the open house Sunday. Granddaughter Taylor, who has long played assistant to Santa and Mrs. Claus, won't wear her costume, either. Grant Wilson will wear a Santa hat to watch the parade instead of the full uniform.

Santa's red velvet ensemble will hang on the bedroom door where it stays year-round. Christine Wilson said she isn't sure who, if anybody, will take on the role in years to come.

Grant Wilson will leave a big suit to fill.