It has been a frustrating year for Buddy Cox, also known as Country Santa.
For more than a quarter of a century, Cox has led an independent, private group that provides bags of toys for underprivileged children across the Upstate. His Pumpkintown home becomes Santa's workshop for a full month each year.
But this year, it seemed like some unknown force was going against the efforts of Cox and his volunteer elves. Health problems forced Cox into a brief hospital stay early in December. The elves continued to work while their leader recovered. Cox said he still isn't quite 100 percent over his illness, but it would take more than that to keep him from his duties as Country Santa.
The next problem is the usual one that comes in tough economic times, which is a good description of the situation in Pickens and its neighboring counties at this moment.
With more people losing their jobs, there were more names than ever on Country Santa's list this year. Unfortunately, poor economic conditions also lead to fewer donations.
“It doesn't take a math whiz to figure out that if your demand is up and your supply is down, you're in trouble,” Cox said.
Pleas for help were broadcast through media friends of the program. The public responded, bringing in enough donations to meet this year's needs.
But as the elves worked to sort and bag these donations, the next setback occurred. An ice storm left most of Pickens County without power, and Country Santa was no exception.
“I tried to call around and pull a few strings,” Cox said. “We got our power back Tuesday night, five days after we lost it, like just about everybody else in the county. Guess that shows the kind of political pull I have.”
In the meantime, one of Cox's elves disconnected a generator from his own home and brought it to Country Santa's workshop, allowing the elves to continue working to prepare for Christmas Eve deliveries.
Early Christmas Eve, dozens of drivers showed up at Cox's home, waiting in line for the opportunity to deliver gifts.
Cox's driveway is one lane, so the comings and goings of the cars and trucks being used to deliver has to be regulated fairly closely, with no more than eight cars at the delivery area at any time.
Delivery day went well, with very few drivers returning bags after not being able to find the right home for the toys. Those few that were returned were eventually delivered to the right location.
“I guess we had used up all of our bad luck before Christmas Eve,” Cox said.
By early afternoon, the hundreds of bags of toys that had covered the Coxes' back yard were gone. “I guess my bags can have their yard back,” Buddy's wife Nelle said.
This year's list included more than 850 families, roughly 2,300 children who may have not received anything for Christmas had Cox and his elves not persevered against the various setbacks of the past few weeks.
Bob Spalding, a longtime elf, related a story that showed the heart of many of the people Country Santa helps.
Archive note: A portion of the surviving web transcription is missing at this point.
“We don't want to be redundant and duplicate the efforts of somebody else. One woman called in and said her children were receiving one gift each from another organization, so we needed to take them off our list. Of course, we didn't take her children off the list. But that just tells me that these people we're helping aren't out to take advantage of anybody. They're just people going through a hard time who love their children—or in many cases, grandchildren living in the home. And loving children is what Country Santa is all about.”
Originally published by the Easley Progress on December 28, 2005. Obvious typographical and scanning errors in the surviving web transcription have been normalized.