During the past 33 years, St. John's businessman Bruce Templeton has devoted the month of December to visiting children and assisting Santa Claus. At school parties, country clubs, or in the critical-care unit of hospitals, young people ask him profound questions about Santa Claus and the true meaning of Christmas. Templeton has collected hundreds of stories and questions during more than 1000 visits - some of them curious, some happy, and some heartbreaking. In his memoir of three decades he shares some of the most unforgettable questions. Templeton always tries to bring hope and joy through his visits, but he often finds it is the children who change his life and the lives of those who assist him on these extraordinary journeys. For readers who enjoyed the bestselling Tuesdays With Morrie and Everything I Need To Know, I Learned from a Children's Book, Bruce Templeton's memoir will fill them with enough inspiration and joy to last an entire year.

Bruce Templeton and his family have been assisting Santa for over forty years. His working career took him and his wife, Paula, across Canada to open many of the ninety-six Bowring Little Shops. They have three children and five grandchildren. Following his retail years, Bruce joined the investment industry, and following a decade with a bank firm, he started an office in partnership with his son, Jim. His volunteer work includes St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, the St. John’s Board of Trade, Scouts Canada, and Rotary International. He is the only Canadian of the twenty-seven living Santas inducted into the International Santa Claus Hall of Fame, and he is also a Knight of St. Nicholas. That said, he gives credit to his family, especially Paula, who has spent hours in helicopters and has walked the entire parade route for years whispering the names of children to Santa, who then greets them from the top of the sleigh. While Bruce has won multiple awards, the making of memories for children is all that really matters, along with joining Santa with his doctor daughter, Christina, on Christmas Eve in the Janeway Children’s Health and Rehabilitation Centre.

Bruce Templeton's profile page

'The Man in the Red Suit' is a beautiful and gracious book that honors children. Because, you see, it might look as though Santa is the one giving all the gifts -- when all that gift-giving is actually Santa's gesture of thanks for the privilege of knowing them.Darrell Squires, The Western Star