Santa has gone back to the North Pole to rest, so my PS and I go through the ritual 'deshedding' of the character. The suits are cleaned, bagged and stored to be brought out next season. And my PS gets his hair cut and shaves down the beard - the transformation to 'civilian' is complete.
It was a decent season. We had enough bookings to make the transformation (growing in the beard and hair from August - on) worthwhile. I hope we can get back to the number of bookings that we had from 2000 to 2006, but the economy affects everyone. And, of course, our regulars grow up and may not need the reinforcement of a visit from Santa. I still think the adults get more out of the visits, but they usually will not hire a Santa for their own enjoyment - it is 'for the children.'
My PS is a professional, and I really see that aspect on those years when we have personal setbacks, but 'the show must go on.' This has been a hard year for a our little family; financial problems and personal losses. This year we tragically lost four of our cats, and anyone who has loved a pet knows the pain that you feel when these things happen. They had been with us for over 15 years, and their deaths were complications due to their age, but there is that void now. But I saw my PS take to his gigs so nobody would ever know we had to give the final gift that day to one of our 'babies.' I admire that.
The weather was the usual - every year we have at least one gig that occurs during a major snow storm. We send contracts to our bookings, primarily to cover us in the event of a sudden cancellation by the party, and a Force Majeure clause to cover us in case weather or illness causes us to cancel. I wanted to use it this year, as we had a storm that did not have a lot of snow, but a lot of ice on the roads. Ice scares me. But we made it and the gig went well.
Maybe next year more people will use our services. It is a new decade after all...
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