Welcome a New Decade

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...

Beard Prejudice

Professional Santas who have a "real" beard are very lucky and very well appreciated, especially monetarily. My PS is one of those lucky guys who has had his beard change naturally to a lovely silvery white as he has gotten older. For a while it had a gray-ish tinge, which we tried to bleach out. That was a trial and a bit of a failure, so we decided that if his personality did not sell the character, then he was in the wrong line of work. Again, he was lucky in that nobody noticed what we thought was a defect - he even had comments about how nice it was to have a real-beard Santa! If you read through some of the Santa blogs, the guys get neurotic about the beard; how long it should be, should it be curled, should they bleach and how to bleach. It wears on a person's mind after a while and causes my PS and I to have long discussions about it. Here are my feelings:*If the beard is white, or close to white, use your own beard. If it is not white, look on-line for a good fake beard, like ones used in all the Santa movies. They are out there, they are expensive, but no worse that constant bleaching of a person's real beard. Beard hair is course and hard to bleach, grows quickly, and the chemicals can damage your face.

*Curling is optional, as Santa is depicted with many versions of the beard. Again, beard hair is course and easily burned, as is your skin on your face. My PS does have naturally wavy hair, so sometimes he will wrap the beard hair around his fingers to give a little curl, but not too much.

*How long? Long enough to look like a beard, not a one-week growth. Take the time to cultivate the beard, with proper trimming and training, and plenty of time to get it right before the holiday season. I read a debate in one of the Santa groups about sleeping with the beard under or over the covers! Please, if it is that long, it starts to look fake again, and a little scary. My PS wears his as long as it covers his collar in the front - in other words, if he wears a bow tie, nobody can tell. Any longer and it gets wire-ry and too bushy.

*People come to see the Santa, not the beard. He needs a beard, but he also needs a winning personality.

But what about the other 11 months out of the year? How does a PS keep the beard and still find work? That has been our dilemma where we live in the Poconos. There is an antiquated viewpoint among many employers around here that a beard means unclean, unkempt, or (horrors!) you are an old Hippie! For an area that boasts many outdoor types, hunters and mountain-type guys, there is a prejudice against facial hair. Three day growths= fine; full beards and it may upset the guests, customers, etc.

Now the real beard is my PS's pride and joy, and his money. To shave it off in order to take a moderate-paying service job, like at some of the resorts up here, or some grocery stores, is just a pity. It is not like he can take off one month before the holiday season in order to grow in the beard! He has gone through the interview process, been welcomed with open arms, about to sign the papers to start work and the HR person has said "Oh, when you report to work, you need to shave the beard." Why? "Company policy." Why? "Sanitary concerns." For working at the front desk? The irony is that 'back-of-the-house' personal all had beards and they were doing the cooking, cleaning, etc. The resort had instituted the policy back in the 1960's as part of the knee-jerk reaction against the culture at that time and had never re-visited that policy. I guarantee you that my PS's beard is cleaner than most people's hair, but it is there and bothers some people - except at Christmas! When asked if an exception can be made, the person interviewing usually says "The beard doesn't bother me, but it is policy, so it has to be done." Frustrating!

My PS finds work, to be sure, but it hurts his pride that people cannot see beyond the facial hair - the rest of the year.

What is a Professional Santa?

November 16, 2007:

It is that time again. Time to get out the suits and dust off the boots and get Santa ready for another busy year. My husband is a Professional Santa Claus, which makes me a Mrs Claus, but I prefer the more appropriate "Ms Claus."

A Professional Santa Claus is a gentleman who, for one thing, gets paid for his appearances. He is also someone who puts a lot of time and thought into his costumes, accessories, HAIR and BEARD. Let me tell you, a Santa with a real white beard and hair gets the higher payback, more gigs, etc. It also helps if the Santa has a 'hook' - in my Santa's case, musical ability.

This is the start of an ongoing post regarding the life of a Professional Santa (PS for short). Stop in for some insights, as well as some hints for the aspiring Santa.

See You Tomorrow,
Ms Claus