Episode #12： Interview With Santa Claus
Episode Stats
Summary
Dave Davis is a member of the Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas. He has been a real beard Santa Claus since 2004 and has been with the order for 5 years. Dave talks about how he became Santa and why he decided to become one.
Transcript
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Brett McKay here, and welcome to a holiday edition of the Art of Manliness podcast.
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Well, because Christmas is this Friday, we decided to invite a special guest on the podcast.
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Well, at least a guy who works as a Santa Claus.
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Santa Dave is a member of the Art of Manliness community,
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and he does work as works and appearances as Santa Claus.
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He lives in Ohio, and he's a member of the Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas.
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Well, Santa Dave, thank you for taking the time out of, I'm sure, your busy schedule to come talk to us.
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So are you ready to get started with the questions?
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Well, Santa Dave, how and why did you become a Santa Claus?
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I've actually been doing Santa work since I was in high school on different things with the fake beard.
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But I was doing that in high school for some different things and some different areas over the years, some church and that.
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And then a few years ago, I want to say about 2004, I actually had a couple weeks vacation for the first time in a long time.
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And I just kind of let my beard grow and didn't shave.
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And I said, I just wonder what will happen with it.
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And at the same time, there's actually a very personal reason why I do the Santa now.
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I had a younger sister named Judy who was going through a bout with breast cancer.
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And when I went to pick her up right before Christmas at Zion Hospital outside of Chicago, she made a comment about how I was a good-looking Santa.
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And they actually put a little Santa hat on me.
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And the nurses came in and took my picture with my sister and et cetera.
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She actually passed away two days after Christmas.
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And so I just decided to keep it and keep going on as being Santa, kind of a little bit of tribute to her.
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And so your work's kind of unique, Santa Dave, that you don't usually do the typical department store Santa work.
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Can you tell our readers a little bit about what sort of Santa work you do?
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And not to sound selfish, but the reason why I do some private parties is Santa isn't free.
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I go through a dry cleaning bill of about $250 in the month of December.
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So, because especially with the H1N1, I have to be conscious of that.
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But I do some private parties, but mainly, like I said, charity.
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I've done work for boys' clubs and girls' clubs, for cancer wards in the local hospitals, for hospice.
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I just did one fairly recently that was very moving.
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And there were 34 autistic children that I met with that night.
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There were one or two that did have a little problem with it, but the majority, like 30 of them, were able to spend some time with Santa.
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And I've also done a lot of assisted living facilities and other things like that over the course of years.
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So, during the Christmas season, you will mainly see me at social events, public events for charities and different things.
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I've also did some mobile meal deliveries with Santa.
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I think one lady almost had a heart attack when she opened the door, and there was Santa with a bag of food for her.
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So, I actually have a relationship with a local coffee shop here that's kind of neat.
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I'll do, mainly on Sunday evenings, I'll do a couple hours of very low pressure.
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I mean, we don't have any photographers or anything.
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And the kids can come in at their pace and kind of get familiar with Santa.
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There's probably been a dozen kids over the course of the last couple years that, when they walked in the door, were terrified.
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And by the end of the night, they were sitting on my lap.
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Because, like I said, one of the reasons I don't like doing the malls is at the meat market.
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You know, they rush the kids in, grab them, throw them on Santa's lap, and say,
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And here's this big bearded guy going, Oh, ho, ho.
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So, Santa Dave, what's the best part of the job of being Santa Claus?
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I don't know if there's really a way to describe it better than that.
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And I do get a chance to share Christmas with a lot of people and be a part of their Christmas.
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In some families, I've been a part of their Christmas for several years now and build a nice relationship.
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And also, being a Christian, et cetera, it's good to be able to spread the birth of Jesus, et cetera, at that time frame.
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Well, I guess if I wanted to nitpick, there'd probably be a few of them.
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Sometimes there's some weird hours, and sometimes I overbook myself a little bit.
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I've not had any problems with any of my, I'll say clients, for lack of a better term, yet.
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Now, I do say, and it's not a bad part, but it's kind of interesting.
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Well, I'm sure right now that your schedule's just booked here from now until Christmas.
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Well, actually, I am a project manager with AT&T, and I've been in project management for many years.
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There's an organization called the Project Management Institute.
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I don't know if you're familiar with them or not, but it's a global certification standard for project managers.
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And I've been involved in their executive offices and do a lot of public speaking,
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professional development days and things like that in the project management arena.
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Also, I do curriculum work for the University of British Columbia on their program, project management curriculums.
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And then, like I said, I'm also a project manager for AT&T, a large-scale international customer,
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where we actually tie our applications together.
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And just to give you an idea, I'll say American Express has a circuit go down,
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and they're not able to get transactions from a city to another city that's real money for them.
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So we actually build interfaces where we're able to notify them that something's down
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and what we're doing to fix it, and then it comes back up, and et cetera, et cetera.
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And does this job give you kind of flexibility this time of year to do your Santa work?
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I'm on conference calls with folks in Cyber Jaya or India or those places.
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But, like I said, it does give me some flexibility,
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because sometimes I'm able to slip out at 3 o'clock and do a nursing home or something like that.
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Now, Santa Dave, if a man is interested in becoming a Santa Claus, because it is, I mean, it's a really manly job.
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Well, first of all, they do have to have the passion.
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If they think, you know, I can make a few bucks around December by being a Santa Claus,
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So, first of all, they have to have the passion for the job.
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The other thing, the advice is start out small.
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Maybe be Santa at a local Cub Scout or Girl Scouts or something like that.
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You can get a fairly reasonably priced designer suit, you know, one from a Walmart or something like that with the fake beard.
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As I said, I have pretty significant dry cleaning and other costs of doing business.
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There's a fraternal order of Santas, of which we welcome people with or without bearded Santa that are portrayed apart.
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And there's a couple other clause nets and et cetera that are out there to get some ideas and hints.
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I'd say if you're willing to start out with the smaller things, and there's a lot of opportunities, you know,
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to do some private parties and et cetera, especially around Christmas Eve and that, be involved in your choir, things like that.
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And if you like it and you want to go with the beard, then do the beard.
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It can take you a good six to nine months to grow the beard, so it's an acceptable level.
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I started mine actually in June the first year I was at Santa.
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But I think I have a little overdose of testosterone in my body.
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But, no, definitely start local in some little things.
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Like I said, the Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, nursing homes are always looking for people to come and play Santa.
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And what's neat about with the assisted living facilities and that is those folks know some of the old carols
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and some of the older things that perhaps aren't as well-known today.
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Children today, I would say, are a little bit more up to speed with songs like Frosty the Snowman,
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Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Jingle Bells.
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Why, if you try to pull something like an Up on the Housetop or Winter Wonderland or things like that,
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Why, the older people tend to know those songs.
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Do you need the holly jolly belly that shakes when you laugh like a bowl full of jelly,
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Well, there's some places out there that are into the skinny Santa or the fit Santa.
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Actually, I've been fortunate that since I started Santa, I've actually lost in the neighborhood of 50 pounds
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Well, if I'm correct, wasn't like the Victorian Santa skinny and like the, I don't know,
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somehow the American Santa Claus kind of became the holly jolly guy that we all know.
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Well, actually, the line in The Night Before Christmas was a ripe jolly old elf,
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But yes, the Victorian Father Christmas and Sinterklaas and that in the Dutch area,
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I mean, they're almost wizard-like in their appearance.
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I noticed on your website that you actually make appearances as different types of Santa Claus.
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What are some of these Santa Clauses you appear as?
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Well, I do one, as I call it, the Middle Earth, Father Christmas.
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J.R.R. Tolkien, who everybody knows as the writer of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings and et cetera,
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actually published a series of letters that he wrote to his children as Father Christmas through the 20s
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But one of mine, I was able to pick up a Santa suit that had half moons and stars on it, kind of wizard-ish.
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So one of my personas is the Father Christmas of Middle Earth, where I talk about the J.R.R. Tolkien stuff,
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Because he had polar bears with him at the North Pole,
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and he actually had gnomes that were evil opponents to him and some other things.
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I also do more of a Victorian Father Christmas.
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I'm fortunate that I have a wife who loves to sew.
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I'm unfortunate that I have a wife who likes to play dress-up or husband.
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But the nice thing about that, my wife has made me a couple costumes or uniform, whatever term you want to use,
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And she did a green Victorian Father Christmas, which has been very well received.
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I've done several banquets and different things like that.
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I did a local opera house fundraiser for their Toys for Tots, the Victorian Father Christmas.
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I told a story about the little boy who walked under Scrooge's window on Christmas morning
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and went and got the turkey and some of those things.
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I'm, you know, realistically the storyteller has one approach.
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And if I'm just going to be doing gift-giving or things like that, I'll have a little bit different approach.
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And then there's one that kind of leads carols and some of that.
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It's a little bit more of a lounge singer type, I guess.
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And the thing is, it's Santa, and there's usually a festive mood to start with.
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I just try to build upon that festive mood that's already there.
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Well, speaking of festive mood, any last-minute tips on getting into the holiday spirit from the big man himself?
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Well, first of all, I think the holiday spirit gets into you.
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I think what you have to do is just relax and just go with it.
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And, you know, don't stress over anything here.
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You know, there's no such thing as a perfect gift, so don't worry about trying to get the perfect gift.
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If the person's not appreciated with what you give them, you know, kind of brush off your shoes and go on.
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Be comfortable with yourself, and I think the spirit will find you.
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Go to the local light shows or drive around the neighborhood and look at the decorations or other things like that.
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Go to the video store if you don't have it, rent it, it's a Charlie Brown Christmas.
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Pop some popcorn, heat up some cocoa, and put it in the DVR and sit and watch that.
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As I tell people, Christmas spirit will find you whether you want it or not.
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And it's just if you want to let it in is really the issue.
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And if you just relax and just kind of enjoy and don't read too much into it, don't try to make it more than it is,
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Well, Santa Dave, thank you again for your time, and I hope you have a very Merry Christmas.
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I do too, and I hope you have a very Merry Christmas.
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And I will see you Christmas Eve, but you probably won't see me.
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And thanks for all the wonderful manly tips you've given on the website to be able to do gifting and all that for the manly men out there.
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Merry Christmas, and we will see you Christmassy.
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Our guest today was Dave Davis, also known as Santa Dave.
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And you can find out more about his work at christmas-lore.com.
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Well, that wraps up another edition of the Art of Manliness podcast.
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For more manly tips and advice, make sure to check out the Art of Manliness website at artofmanliness.com.
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And from all of us at the Art of Manliness, we wish you a very safe and a very Merry Christmas.
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And from all of us at the Art of Manliness podcast.