Governor dresses up as Santa

INDIANAPOLIS -- Gov. Joe Kernan dressed up as Santa Claus Tuesday, shaking jingle bells and wishing a merry Christmas to more than 1,000 Indiana schoolchildren gathered at the Statehouse for a holiday ceremony.\nKernan wore a bright red fuzzy Santa suit and walked past children from elementary schools across the state. Instead of giving out presents, Kernan shook hands and bellowed, "Merry Christmas!" and "Ho, ho, ho."\nKernan, acting as Santa, said he's busy this time of year, but wanted to make time to visit his favorite place -- Indiana.\nHe told children that Christmas is a time to think about loved ones, especially those who can't be home for the holidays.\nKernan gave first lady Maggie Kernan a kiss and said that she had been a good girl this year. Then the couple put star ornaments on a 25-foot fir tree in the Rotunda.\nChildren later decorated the tree with their own ornaments, but Santa had to go.\n"I've got to get back over to the Indianapolis Zoo where Rudolph and the other reindeer are," Kernan said. "They're over there getting a little bit of chow"