By Ashlyn Beck | Staff Writer
Dwight and Cykeitha Williams are a normal couple from Burleson, but at Christmas on Fifth, they will become Santa and Mrs. Claus.
The Williamses began working as Santa and Mrs. Claus every Thanksgiving weekend 12 years ago and have done it together ever since.
“My wife and I — our card says, ‘Purveyors of Christmas Magic,’” Dwight Williams said. “It also says, ‘Creators of Memories.’ And that’s what we want to be.”
Dwight Williams said being Santa allows him to see people become kids again, because “when you’re Santa Claus, there is no age limit on what a kid is.”
“Everyone’s always happy to see Santa, so it always brings the child out,” Cykeitha Williams said.
The couple attends “Santa School” every year to train to embody Santa and Mrs. Claus, learning things like how to hold their smile, how to interact with difficult kids and how to maintain their white hair and beard. Dwight Williams said they have even been taught a little bit of Spanish and sign language.
“They teach techniques on certain little things — little tips and tricks to bring more magic to the vision,” Dwight Williams said.
Cykeitha Williams said she decided she wanted to be Mrs. Claus one day when her husband was working as Santa at H-E-B. There, he met a young woman who saw him and told him she had been good that year, and he gave her a coin that said, “I was caught being good by Santa.” Dwight Williams said he saw tears well up in his wife’s eyes as she watched the young woman “transform back to a little girl.”
“It was amazing, and I thought, ‘He’s not doing this by himself. I’m not missing out on this,’” Cykeitha Williams said.
Dwight Williams said one of his most memorable experiences as Santa was when he visited children with terminal illnesses at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth.
“You would look at them and they would light up, and you could tell — maybe just for a minute or two — they could forget about what was going on,” Dwight Williams said. “Those are the things that really make this worth everything.”
The Williamses said Santa and Mrs. Claus are about more than just Christmas. They bring joy and laughter to the people they meet, and they get to spread the love of Christ through their work.
“The real purpose for us is we believe that Jesus Christ came and died for our sins. We believe and have faith in that,” Dwight Williams said. “And we believe that we’ve been given this joy and this love that we need to share.”
The couple will be coming to Baylor for Christmas on Fifth on Thursday, and Santa and Mrs. Claus will be available in the Bill Daniel Student Center to meet and take pictures. Both of them said that although they love children, they also enjoy getting to interact with college students.
“Working with college kids is fun because they kind of revert back to children,” Cykeitha Williams said.
The Williamses said being Santa and Mrs. Claus is a tiring job, but it is rewarding to show others the “unexpected fun of life.”
“I’m not going to lie: Dec. 26, I’m ready to lay down,” Dwight Williams said. “I’m ready to trim the beard back and the hair back and give it a little time to rest. I enjoy it like crazy, and I’m a little sad when it’s gone for the season, but I know it’s coming back.”
