ATLANTA (Wireless Flash) -- Being a shopping mall Santa Claus isn't always a merry experience, especially when your body feels like a punching bag from the loads of lap-sitters.

That's according to Ed Butchart, a professional Saint Nick who has worked in kid-friendly places from malls to theme parks.

The 18-year-veteran says the job is physically taxing and after a full day's work, his whole body is in pain -- particularly his shoulders and back from picking up so many kids.

Butchart usually doesn't worry about the suffering he goes through because "it's worth it to make a child happy," but there was one time when he truly feared for his health.

He says a seven-year-old who weighed 427 pounds sat on his lap years ago and he figured "something was going to go." Luckily, he says there have been "no lasting effects."

Butchart shares other memorable Santa stories in his book, "The Red Suit Diaries" (Revell).