- December 24, 2025
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Although it would seem that being a Santa for 50 years might have clouded his memory or even slightly fogged his cognitive abilities, Rich Vannucci swears that two particular instances point to the fact he is more than just a Santa's helper.
The first was a Christmas Eve mishap as a child growing up in Williamsport, Pennslyvania. His family had moved to Pennsylvania from Lucca, Italy, and he was his parents' third overall child and the first born in the U.S.
He could attest that Christmas and the holiday celebrations that go along with it aren't unique to this country. It's a very big deal in Italy as well.
"Oh yeah, the Italians (and Christmas), big time!" he said.
His parents were the late Amelio and Ines Vannucci, and they had rules about Christmas Eve.
"Santa came to my house every year," Rich Vannucci said. "That's all I know. It always was a fun thing."
He didn't know if his dad dressed up to play the role, or perhaps somebody else in the neighborhood played the part. He only knew that Santa was, indeed, there to place presents under the tree.
The rule on Christmas Eve was that once you got into bed, you had to stay there.
Being around the age of 5, young Rich didn't listen.
He snuck out of his upstairs bedroom, and went down a few stairs so he could see the Christmas tree. Lo and behold, Santa was there, placing presents under the tree.
Amazed by the site, Rich moved suddenly ... and fell down the stairs. Bam. Bam. Bam. He rolled right to Santa's feet. He was sure it wasn't his dad.
Santa went about his work, and Rich gazed at his new bike that was in front of him. He then started going through the gifts that were under the tree.
His mom soon appeared and let him know she wasn't pleased. It was back up to bed.
But a connection to Santa had been established.
The other instance came in the last year. It involved a Santa suit that Ines Vannucci made for Rich's first role as Santa in 1975. That suit had taken a beating from being worn for so many years. The color had faded from a bright red, to more of an orange look.
When Vannucci went to get the suit from his closet last year, it was bright red again.
He swears that no one took it to the cleaners, and that mysteriously, it just regained its original look. Some kind of mystical power had taken over.
It doesn't really matter, though, because Rich Vannucci said he was born to be Santa, whether or not his suit was sparkling red.
"He always has had that Santa persona," said his wife Bonnie, who has been married to Rich since 1990. "He is the same all the time. Someone who always wants to spread joy. That's who he is.
"He is Santa."
His first role as Santa came in 1975, during his junior year at Neumann High School in Williamsport. The student council was doing a toy drive and the local Social Services had provided a list of families in need.
"They needed a Santa to deliver the toys, and I raised my hand," Rich said.
His 50-year journey was about to begin, albeit without reindeer and a sled.
After Vannucci was selected to play the role, he was given a garbage bag that contained a ratty, old Santa suit to wear. He was told just to arrange the pillows under the suit to look like Jolly Old Nick.
His mother was not about to have her son leave the house in such a suit.
"My mother was a seamstress," he said. "So she made me a suit."
Properly dressed, his first stop as Santa left him with the greatest impact of any other Santa assignment in his life.
"That first stop was low income housing," he said. "I went into the home and there was a 3-year-old girl and a 5-year-old boy in pajamas. They were lethargic even though their mom was excited (that Santa had arrived bearing gifts). There was no response from the kids and no excitement in their eyes. The mom said, 'Santa, do you want a drink?' So she went to the refrigerator and opened the door. All I saw was a small roll of bread, and five bottles of vodka.
"That refrigerator hit me. They didn't need toys. They needed food."
The next year, Vannucci convinced the student council to add food to the deliveries.
He was asked if his experiences over 50 years taught him important lessons about being a Santa.
"If I have learned something, it's that if you want joy, be that joy," he said. "I am a child at heart and that comes out. I learned that when I share that joy, it gives me more joy."
As he aged, he needed fewer pillows to fill out the suit so he switched to wearing a green parka underneath the suit. The biggest problem, though, was that the parka made him hot.
If tolerance to heat is one important trait to being a Santa, what else does it take?
"I guess just the desire to do it," he said. "You want to bring smiles and laughter."
While Santa is jolly most of the time, Rich said he draws the line when children yank hard on his beard to see if it is real. He will react by giving the child's hair a tug.
Hurts, doesn't it?
He goes over in his mind how he fill answer all those questions he gets from the children. "How do you get all around the world in one night, Santa?"
Simple, Santa stops time at midnight until he gets finished.
After his first couple of years playing Santa for student council deliveries, he kept playing the role in college.
"I went to King's College and I was the only male who was permitted in the girls dorms," he said with a laugh.
His time as Santa has included some heart-wrenching moments over the years.
He remembered back to 1988 and a visit to a downtown Bradenton family that had been plagued with "violence, murder, and death."
He has visited that family as Santa every year since, and continues to go there today.
His wife always has been by his side.
"I never dressed up as Mrs. Claus," Bonnie said. "But I helped with deliveries, helped him get dressed, and worked behind the scenes."
Rich and Bonnie had three children, and they would help their dad get dressed as Santa as well. When they were young, Bonnie would tell them that their dad was Santa's helper.
All through the years, Rich said he never will forget the lesson he learned in his first visit as a Santa.
"That first one still is the most pronounced," he said. "People need more than something to unwrap."
With that in mind, Vannucci formed a nonprofit, Operation Santa Claus, in his early years as a Santa. In 1998, Rich and Bonnie changed it to Operation Serving Children so that even families that didn't celebrate Christmas or embrace Santa could benefit.
The nonprofit doesn't just help families at Christmas. Operation Servicing Children just worked with MAP International to deliver $70,000 in lifesaving medications and disaster kits to Jamaica following Hurricane Melissa.
Their nonprofit website can be found at OSCrelief.org.
At 66, Vannucci has no plans to slow down as Santa.
"It's fun," he said. "It's what you do for people."
