Santa Claus is coming to town—this year, loaded up with cannabis deliveries available at locations in Southern California. Give the gift almost everyone wants this holiday season: weed.

For the time period beginning December 19 and running through Christmas Eve on December 24, Emjay will send a cannabis delivery courier dressed as Santa Claus to deliver orders throughout Los Angeles and San Diego. It’s one of the most creative holiday sales gimmicks we’ve seen in a long time within the cannabis retail space.

In the spirit of the Christmas season, Emjay is trying a different marketing approach this year, giving the company and its leadership a chance to be extra festive.

“We’re always looking for ways to use the Emjay platform to uplift people’s cannabis experience, and so we’re happy to have Santa dressed couriers delivering orders to our customers this holiday season,” said Chris Vaughn, CEO of Emjay. “Having Santa couriers is an exciting and festive addition to our offering and for delighting our customers this time of the year.”

Emjay encourages customers who receive a Santa delivery to take a picture of them and tag Emjay’s Instagram account via Stories (which has been targeted by Instagram Community Guidelines by Meta).  If you do so, Emjay will then DM you for a gift for your next purchase.

In addition to the possibility of receiving a Santa courier, Emjay is also offering curated holiday Kushmas Bundles with $144 or more worth of product on sale for $80, discounts on select products, along with food and toy drives, giveaways, and customer appreciation days at their brick-and-mortar stores in Los Angeles and San Diego.

Kushmas Bundles are available in several options with reindeer names: Rudolph, Comet, Blitzen, Dasher, Donner, Prancer, etc., each coming with a mix of flower, edibles, and other cannabis products. They feature high-end cannabis products from brands such as Lowell Farms, Kurvana, and so on.

Emjay launched in 2019, growing to become one of the leading California-based cannabis delivery and retail platforms. Emjay also opened retail locations in Los Angeles and La Mesa, California. One of the company’s main selling points is to provide prices comparable to prices you’d see at the counter at a dispensary.  

“… Whatever you choose will be brought by one of the most professional couriers in the industry,” the company states on its website. “For us, the entire experience matters—from how you view our curated list of products to how they end up in your living room.All of the weed. None of the markup. A better experience. Because we’re Emjay, and we’re the best cannabis delivery service in the world.”

Santa Claus Roots

Holiday marketing gimmicks are nothing new, especially in the cannabis industry. High Times Magazine has explored the topic in detail—usually when someone dressed as Santa gets into trouble. In North Pole, Alaska, voters in 2015 rejected a measure that would have banned dispensaries in the town.

There may even be a psychedelic connection between the Santa Claus origin story and psychedelics. In the December, 1979 issue of High Times Magazine, the late counterculture correspondent for the publication Glenn O’Brien examined the connections between Santa Claus and a specific kind of psychedelic mushroom: fly agaric, aka the toadstool that conquered the universe. In fact, O’Brien argues, the mere existence of Santa could be related to a shaman in Lapland who ate Amanita muscaria. 

For more cannabis holiday gift ideas, check out The Ultimate High Times Holiday Gift Guide 2022.

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Santa headed southeast from Pittsburg, stopping briefly at the Free Store founded by Gisele Fetterman in Braddock, Pennsylvania, dropping off a load of previously loved bicycles.

He’d followed the calling of service of Gisele since she was a young woman. Relocating to Pennsylvania to work beside her now-husband, John Fetterman, while he was Mayor of the town; then supporting him as Lieutenant General of the state as Pennsylvania’s Second Lady; still by his side today, supporting his successful run as State Senator.

Santa knew a good egg when he saw one, and he couldn’t wait to meet the woman beloved in her state. So loved is she that the mantra, “Vote for Gisele’s husband,” was commonly heard throughout the campaign.

He was also aware she was honest about her medicinal use of cannabis for chronic pain after a series of accidents throughout her life, advocating that her state legalize the plant alongside her husband.

At Home with History

Santa steered Rudolph toward the rooftop of the Fetterman’s home.

So proud of his state’s history of steel, Sen. Fetterman converted the former Superior Motors building across the street from the Edgar Thomson Steel Works into his family home. The mill was the first to lay railroad tracks across the country, and the pride factor for Fetterman was strong.

Superior Motors was one of the country’s first indoor car dealerships, with an old Chevy needing to be removed via a crane from their soon-to-be-home.

Gisele Fetterman lay next to her sleeping husband thinking about the holiday at hand, her children fast asleep, her husband’s newly-appointed position as State Senator and all that implied for the future of her family and their beloved state.

Not a creature was stirring when she heard a bump in the night on the rooftop.

Glancing over at her husband’s 6’8” frame, giggling at the sight of his feet protruding off the end of the bed, with his head covered by a blanket as he slept soundly, she tiptoed up toward the rooftop to see what was the matter.

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she could barely believe what she saw.

“Ho, ho, ho!” didn’t mean to startle you,” Santa said, gingerly stepping down and out of the sled, as the reindeer made themselves comfortable on the expansive rooftop.

“I’m not opposed to miracles,” Gisele said with an unsure smile. “Just give me a minute to take it all in.”

“Well, I’m no miracle, just spreading the love of giving, just like you,” he replied. “My hope is that you are as excited to meet me as I am to meet you. You are one of our people. Your selfless and loving ways have not been missed by my missus either.”

Santa pulled out a small dropper bottle of tincture from his pocket and offered it to Gisele, who was now fondly stroking Rudolph’s nose.

“You probably haven’t thought of this, but my lower back can get a bit sore sitting upon this wooden sled,” he said with a seriousness in his voice that surprised her. “The elves started growing hemp up at the North Pole, and Mrs. Claus makes this tincture. She wanted you to have a bottle.”

The Hemp tincture made by Mrs. Claus, was made using high cannabidiol (CBD) and low tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) compound counts, and was hybridized by the late, great, Lawrence Ringo of Southern Humboldt County at the top of Northern California.

Ringo hybridized low THC plants together for his own chronic back pain, into what he referred to as the “God plant,” as the original cannabis plant said to be found in Holy Anointing Oil from the Bible did not have the high THC count we have today. Yet, the plant referred to as hemp, still has the full cannabinoid and terpene profile of the cannabis plant as a superfood, and highly medicinal without the high.

“Both Frankincense and Myrrh are highly medicinal,” Santa informed. “Not just incense for the Baby Jesus. I don’t think most people understand that about most plants, or why they brought medicine to the child in the manger.” 

Gisele understood this and graciously accepted the small bottle with gratitude. But, she was also a bit stunned. It was a lot to take in. Santa, a cannabis advocate – the Elves as farmers, Mrs. Claus an apothecary, weed in Holy Annointing Oil? 

This man in a red suit flying through the air offered up more than physical gifts on Christmas Eve, she thought – pondering gifting him extra cookies by the hearth next year.

She also knew in her heart, if her gentle giant of a husband could win State Senate – wearing his signature sweatshirt, perennial shorts in the winter and sneakers, then anything is possible. Hell, her very existence in this life, in this country, was a crapshoot to begin with.

Silent Night, Holy Night

“I read that you have three strikes against you,” Santa continued. “You began your life in this country as an illegal immigrant – you are a woman, and a cannabis patient.”

“Yes, that’s right – with these thick eyebrows, they just don’t know what to make of me,” she laughed, as Santa chuckled along. “But, I believe that education is everything when it comes to cannabis. It’s been misunderstood for a very long time.”

“So many have realized the plant as medicine, it’s true,” he pondered. “When you think about it, I too am illegal. Each year I cross borders for the greater good of making children happy by giving illegally imported gifts! I pay no tariffs. My reindeer aren’t even documented to be in the U.S., but here we are. There are double standards everywhere, in every country.”

The two had a good laugh at Santa’s perspective, and Gisele had to agree, they were quite the pair. 

The stars in the sky shined brightly above Braddock, as the two took in this very special Christmas Eve together.

“I’m thankful for you, Santa,” Gisele said lovingly. “And for Mrs. Claus and the Elves – and these beautiful animals. And a plant that helps us both.” 

“And I’m thankful for you and your good works,” he repled. “‘If everyone gives, no one goes without.’ That’s what Mrs. Claus always reminds me – especially on those days that seem darkest of all. It’s not easy being misunderstood in this world. It’s not easy watching people go without. And it’s not easy watching people suffer in pain, because this plant isn’t available to them. Thank you for your advocacy, Gisele.”

In the distance they could hear the bells of Saints Peter & Paul Byzantine Catholic Church ringing in the blessings of Christmas Eve. The steel mill across the street was quiet, as Gisele’s family slept peacefully in their beds, unaware of the magic taking place up on the roof.

Santa got back up on his sled and commanded his crew to head toward the City of Love, Philadelphia.

“Wish us luck, we are heading right into Kensington,” Santa said with a wave, blowing a kiss to the State Senator’s wife. “Oh, and you have a little surprise at the Free Store, we dropped off some bicycles!”

“God Bless you, Santa – and God bless the souls of Kensington,” Gisele waved back, then put her hands together in prayer, lifting them up to the jolly man. Then she blew a kiss towards him into the twinkling Braddock night sky.

“Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!” Santa called back.

For more information on the Free Store of Braddock visit, https://www.freestore15104.org/ 

For more information on newly elected State Senator John Braddock visit, https://johnfetterman.com/

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