(This story was originally written and recorded for the 2024 Christmas Retrocast – Podcast #231, released on December 15, 2024.)

82-year-old Wally Bates was the embodiment of Christmas cheer. Day after day, he sat in his red coat and white beard at the Nottingham Coop department store in Nottingham, England, warmly greeting shy children who came to see the toys. But their eager faces and whispered wishes proved too much for Wally’s generosity.

“I couldn’t bear to see them go away disappointed,” he admitted. ‘’Then I had an idea. There were a lot of toys on the shelves nearby that no one seemed to be buying. So I started handing them to some of the children as an extra present.”

For Wally, Christmas was all about giving, so he gave freely. “They were such lovable little kids that I couldn’t resist it,” Wally said. “After all, I always believed Father Christmas was supposed to be kindhearted and do things like that.”

Unfortunately, Wally’s generosity didn’t sit well with store management. A supervisor caught wind of Santa’s unauthorized gift-giving and reminded him that, while Christmas is about kindliness, cheer, and generosity, they had a business to run. The cost for a child to sit on Santa’s lap was half-a-crown (approximately $1.39 today), and, in exchange, the kid would receive a gift pulled from Santa’s sack, not directly from the store’s shelves.

Wally, however, couldn’t reconcile the commercial rules with his holiday spirit. In the end, on December 1, 1962, the store politely let him go. In other words, Santa was sacked.

A store official explained, “We are sorry about this, for Mr. Bates was extremely popular with the children. But, of course, we had to stop him from giving away toys indiscriminately.”

Back home that Saturday evening, Wally reflected on his brief stint as Santa Claus. The hard lesson he learned was that Santa isn’t supposed to give things away—at least not without permission.

“The trouble is,” Wally sighed, “I just let my Christmas spirit get the better of me.”