Want to know our teammates’ deepest, darkest secrets? Well, we can’t share those; they’d probably report us to HR for telling you.
So instead, we sat down with none other than Santa and Mrs. Claus, along with a couple members of what we like to call the “Santa Squad,” to chat over a cup of hot chocolate with all the fixings (because a special edition of Tea With Teammates calls for a special beverage).
They were more than jolly to spill the tea (errm, cocoa) on their favorite holiday of the year, including everything you need to know about the Bank’s close, personal relationship with jolly ol’ Saint Nicholas.
So, throw on your plushest PJs and curl up with a mug of hot chocolate, because we’ve got a not-so-tall tale to tell you.
“I know him!”
It’s that time of year again: holiday magic fills the air, twinkling lights lead the way down every side street in town, and children are buzzing with anticipation and sugar rushes as they line up to visit Santa in malls all across the country.
However…it’s time to be honest with ourselves about a certain facet of this most joyous of seasons.
If Santa is truly real, then there can only be one.
Buddy the Elf already proved that to us more than two decades ago.
And if you were to ask our teammates (or their children, for that matter), they would tell you they know him. The real Santa.
Don’t believe us? That’s cool. We’re not offended or anything.
But! Even though we have nothing to prove, you might want to sit tight for a quick little Christmas story…
Operation: Santa Night
The Santa Squad consists mainly of the members of our Marketing team, along with a few other teammates around the Bank.
(For their personal safety, we do have to keep some names under wraps. After all, these are the teammates with Santa’s personal contact information, and you know how crazy people can get.)
“The Santa Squad is an elite taskforce that works with the big guy to host what we call ‘Santa Night,’” said Content Strategist Kara Tesch. “We reach out to Santa and Mrs. Claus each year and set up a time for them to visit the Bank.”
Santa Night is a teammates-only event: the perfect opportunity for them to bring their children or grandchildren to see Santa amidst the busy Christmas season.
It’s a night of magic and wonder for the children of First National Bank, and it’s a tradition that solidifies the outstanding workplace culture often bragged about by our teammates.
“Santa Night is one of my favorite nights of the year,” said Fiduciary Services Manager Maggie Groteluschen. “It remains a favorite FNB tradition of mine!”
Maggie has been attending Santa Night since she was a kid. Her mom, Peg, and dad, former President & CEO Bill Baker, would bring her and her siblings.
“We visited Santa in the Bank lobby every year,” Maggie said. “When he walked up the stairs to depart with his reindeer and sleigh, we would sneak up to the fifth-floor roof and undoubtedly spot Rudolph’s nose blinking somewhere over the city as Santa made his way back to the North Pole.”
Now, Maggie brings her three children each year to visit Santa and keep the family tradition alive.
So, why does the real Santa come to First National Bank?
Held in the atrium of our Downtown branch, Santa Night is a decades-long tradition shared by hundreds of teammates and their children over the years.
“Since the beginning of Santa Night so many Christmases ago, every child of FNB has been on the Nice List,” Santa told us between sips of hot chocolate. “I knew I had to witness such unparalleled levels of niceness for myself.”
After the first year, Mrs. Claus chimed in, “we so thoroughly enjoyed the family atmosphere at First National Bank that we decided to keep coming back.”
A Santa Night throwback from the Clauses’ visit in 2008.
According to the Clauses, they look forward to taking a break from the busy workshop each year to make some stops around the world — including their annual visit to the Bank.
“My favorite part of coming back is witnessing how excited the kids always are to see Santa,” Mrs. Claus said.
From new faces to Santa Night regulars, she says, “the anticipation and excitement in the room are always palpable.”
Baby Ridley, born earlier this year, attends her first Santa Night.
And since the pair has been returning to the Bank for decades, it’s always a treat to reunite with familiar faces.
“Whether it’s the families that come every year or it’s the multiple generations like Maggie and her family,” Mrs. Claus said. “We watched Maggie grow up, and now we have the joy of seeing her little ones too.”
The annual Groteluschen family picture: Maggie; her husband, Kyle; their three kids; and her parents, Peg and Bill Baker.
Santa, who keeps a close eye on the children of First National Bank throughout the year, says his favorite aspect of Santa Night is simply hearing what the kids want for Christmas and seeing the excitement in their eyes.
He also likes to surprise them by asking about specific things in their lives.
“One boy, George, had broken his arm recently, so I asked him how it was doing,” Santa said. “Seeing his expression was priceless! We also heard from his mom later on that George mentioned how he knew we’d been watching him.”
A moment of connection between George and Santa, captured at this year’s Santa Night.
Of course, Santa’s yearly return to the Bank is just as long-awaited for the children.
According to Project Manager Sarah Gaul, “My oldest daughter knows this is the real Santa who comes here, as opposed to the ‘helper’ Santas that are working around town.”
Sarah and her husband, IT Help Desk Supervisor Matt Gaul, have been bringing their daughters to Santa Night since 2016, and Santa always looks forward to his reunion with the Gaul girls.
“This year,” Santa said, “I asked them if their dog, Waffles, could come visit and play with Rudolph!”
The Gaul girls reading their Christmas wishlists to Santa and Mrs. Claus.
“Our daughters feel so lucky to talk with him,” Sarah added. “How else would Santa know to ask about Waffles?”
The making of Santa Night
To wrap this story up with a nice little bow, we asked the Santa Squad to take us inside this year’s festivities.
Santa Night — and the Santa Squad, for that matter — has evolved over the years. But, the premise for the event remains the same: the children of FNB come to sit on Santa’s lap and tell him what they want for Christmas, and then they pose for a photo.
It sounds pretty simple, but there’s a lot of planning to make the night a success.
“Santa has a super busy schedule this time of year, obviously,” said Kara. “We’re usually reaching out sometime in October to get a date on his calendar.”
Once the night is confirmed, it’s up to the Santa Squad to make the necessary preparations for a proper visit.
They work with the Maintenance team to put everything in place, including positioning the vintage sleigh in the Downtown atrium for Santa and the kids to sit in.
Santa Squad members Jacquelyn Benda and Kara Tesch testing the sleigh before Santa arrives.
“To make the night extra memorable, we also put together activities for the kids to do before and after they visit with Santa,” said Digital Strategist Jacquelyn Benda.
This year’s activities matched the chosen theme: Cozy Up With Santa Night.
“We cut little sweaters out of construction paper for the kids to decorate while they waited in line,” Jacquelyn said. “After their turn with Santa, everyone had the opportunity to make their own hot chocolate to-go bag.”
In addition to three flavors of hot cocoa mix — classic, double chocolate, and peppermint — the children could add their choice of mix-ins: caramel bits, crushed peppermint, mini chocolate chips, and snowman marshmallows.
When the night arrives, Santa and Mrs. Claus park their sleigh on the roof and descend the atrium stairs, where our sleigh and Christmas tree await them.
The Santa Squad then helps the children climb into the sleigh with Santa, snaps some photos so parents can hold onto the precious memories, and makes sure everyone is safely sent on their merry way.
“Over the following few days, we sort through the photos and pick out the best ones,” said Kara. “Then, we share them internally so the parents can download them — and so everyone else can be a little nosy and see all the cute moments from the night!”
A tradition that lives up to company values
Santa Night has become a treasured tenet of the Bank’s company culture.
It holds true to our family values and honors our commitment to teammate well-being.
In fact, the night of Santa Night in 2022 was the same night we found out we had won the Workplace Excellence Award for Culture from the Sioux Empire Society for Human Resource Management.
Call it irony. Call it Christmas magic.
Either way, there’s no denying that our connection with the real Santa played some sort of part in it.
