Robert Mazar shows his new book.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Robert Mazar

A Penticton local’s Christmas themed book is finally available to readers who want all of their childhood questions answered.

Bob Mazar’s How Santa Came to Be is a story that debunks the mysteries, while answering the question: who is Santa Claus? The story idea behind the book is perhaps more important than the book for Mazar.

Mazar was a firefighter for 30 years. His life was dedicated to saving people. When Mazar needed saving, he saved himself too.

From his profession, Mazar developed stage 4 esophageal cancer in May of 2022. He was told he didn’t have much time left.

“I started thinking, ‘geez, am I going to make Christmas or what?” Mazar told iNFOnews.ca. “I didn't think I would, but then I started thinking, ‘oh, why don't I write a story about Christmas?’”

With five months of seven-hour chemotherapy, immunotherapy and radiation sessions back to back once every three weeks, Mazar had lots of time on his hands to sit and think.

Mazar, 74, needed a distraction to keep him busy during his long sessions. He needed something joyful to keep him going and keep positive. He felt inspired by the difficulties he was experiencing. 

“With the cancer and not knowing life expectancy… maybe I wouldn't have made Christmas. That's what brought it on, really. But for some reason, that's what clicked in my head. I'm going to write something about Christmas,” Mazar said.

He decided to bring his iPad to his chemotherapy sessions and began to create, using the book to escape the reality engulfing him. His short story began to take over his mind, which is something he never expected about himself. 

Mazar never saw himself as an author. He says he wasn’t very good in school and never thought to write anything, nevertheless a book.

“I think writing the book allowed me to focus on something else for a while, rather than the treatments,” Mazar wrote in an email to iNFOnews.ca.

With a new obstacle in his life, Mazar made the best of his situation. He decided to answer all of the questions he had surrounding Santa when he was a kid, to ensure his great granddaughter and all other future generations got the answers he craved while growing up.

His book answers what Santa did before becoming the St. Nick everyone is familiar with, where he got his iconic red suit, how he came by reindeer to pull his sleigh and what the story is behind the elves.

Mazar became so involved and excited about his writing, he began to write his story during his free time too. He began to spend so much of his time dedicated to this book, it made fighting cancer a little bit easier.

The book didn’t publish in time for Christmas of 2023, but it is now out, available online on Amazon, or in store at various Coles locations.

Now immortalized in his writing, Mazar says he is alive and well because of How Santa Came to Be.

Just as Mazar saved others, he saved himself too, by distracting himself through life’s challenges and writing a book to bring joy to all who read it.

As any Christmas miracle ends, two years later, Mazar beat the odds, outlived his life expectancy, is happy, getting healthy and excited to celebrate Christmas with his family.

— The headline for this article was amended at 2:01 p.m. Monday, Nov. 25, 2024.  

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