By Hesh Becker, October 4, 2019 — Kerry’s mother Louis was one-quarter Italian. Her grandmother was full Italian. The year that I went, in ’62 on Christmas we celebrated, the family would gather around the Christmas tree, [with] lots of kids. Frank, the family’s Santa Claus, comes down the steps. Because there was so many people it would take hours to deliver presents. Two years later, Uncle Frank passed away before Christmas. The family celebration was present even with his passing — they will go on. So we did. After the funeral, we had a Christmas eve party. At nine o’clock everyone was looking for Santa Claus but there was no Santa. So I said to Aunt Isabelle, Frank’s wife, “Give me the suit.” I became the Jewish Santa for the family. 31 years of parties before we broke up. All aside, when I first put on the suit, the sleeves only came to my elbows and the pants only came to my knees. Eventually, I had my own, that I wore for 35 years.
