‘My true love is being Santa.’ SLO County residents talk about channeling Mr. Claus
For a few exceptional people with a singular avocation, the magic of Christmas lasts all year.
They are Santa’s stand-ins, his understudies, his helpers — his clones, if you will. The Central Coast is blessed to have several such remarkable folks.
For them, the holidays start to shimmer as soon as, for instance, a young girl with arms outstretched races down a path shrieking with “Santa! Santa!” with glee and then flings herself into his arms, saying breathlessly, “Santa, I love you!”
Or when, on a rainy night, a lonely teenager sticks his head into Santa’s house to have a serious tête-à-tête with the elf himself for 15 minutes or so. “I just wanted somebody to talk to,” the young man told that Santa.
But no matter how long the seven men interviewed by The Tribune have “been Santa,” they — and the women alongside them, who portray Mrs. Santa or helpful elves — retain a rosy attitude toward the magical beings they portray during December.
The magic is in the suit, they say.
When they put on that outfit, they become someone else, someone adored by children around the world. It all boils down to respecting that costume, the tradition it represents and the magical memories it can help to create for the children who see it.
Meet SLO County substitute Santas
Most of the substitute Santas interviewed by The Tribune are retired.
Cambria resident Julian Crocker is a lifelong educator who retired as superintendent of schools for the San Luis Obispo County Department of Education. He and his wife, Donna, stood in for Santa and Mrs. Claus, respectively, at Hospitality Night at Cambria Historical Museum in the East Village of Cambria.
Steve Geil, seen with Della Carrillo at Santa’s House in Cayucos, owned five companies in the Central Valley.
San Luis Obispo resident Joe Santalla owned a sporting goods store. He’s subbing for Santa at the Cambria Christmas Market through Dec. 23, and says his Santa stints have led to other character acting gigs.
Paul Deis, who subbed for Santa at a Dec. 7 event at the San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum, served in the U.S. Coast Guard, including in Morro Bay, then worked as a Morro Bay firefighter. He also managed disaster response for the state.
But, the Paso Robles resident said, “my true love is being Santa.”
Other substitute Santas from the North Coast include Rich Raub of Morro Bay, who can be spotted at Santa’s houses in Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo, and Michael Shanley of Cambria, who appeared at the Lions Club Christmas party for kids.
Cambria resident Tom Tierney also appeared at Cambria’s Hospitality Night. His Santa stand was set up in Cambria’s West Village near Caren’s Corner and the Cambria Chamber of Commerce.
How Central Coast men started as stand-ins
Some stand-in Santas started being Kris Kringle for their families and branched out into public service and even Santa-for-hire jobs.
Others, like Paul Deis, Shanley, Raub and Santalla, initially got drafted at the last minute — standing in for the stand in when the original St. Nick wasn’t available.
Shanley, for instance, got drafted to be Santa two days before the Lions Club’s Dec. 14 party for Cambria kids, giving him barely enough time before showtime to try on the suit and rehearse the persona.
Geil’s first Santa assignment was for hundreds of foster children in Fresno County.
“(It was) probably my most difficult time playing Santa,” he said. “These kids weren’t asking for toys. They were asking for homes and better situations.”
Tierney has been Santa for his own offspring so often that his family members call him “Grandpa HoHo.” The license plate on his truck —bright red, of course — reads “Cambria Ho Ho Ho.”
Santalla was at an annual Christmas tree auction when he heard a little girl exclaiming excitedly to her mom that “Santa will be here!” Then, in the hall, he overheard that Santa was too sick to attend.
Remembering “how excited that little girl was,” Santalla recalled, “I asked the event directors, ‘Do you have a suit?’ and they replied, ‘Yes, we just need somebody to fill it.’”
Santalla had such a wonderful time filling in for the Jolly Old Elf, he said, that, “the next night, I rented all the Christmas movies I could find to do as much research as possible” about being Santa.
What’s it like to be Santa Claus?
What is it like to walk a mile in the big man’s knee-high black boots?
Simply magic, say Santa stand-ins.
For Deis, the best part is working with special needs kids. “They’re so innocent and so trusting,” he said, “but they also have things that are hard for them: noise, fast movement.”
“I enjoy finding a way to interact with them,” he said, skills he’s honed with his Mrs. Claus, wife Dorothy Deis, a retired special needs teacher.
Raub remembers doing two separate Morro Bay Santa gigs in one night. Some of the same youngsters visited him in both places.
“I’m the same Santa, and the kids said, ‘Oh Mom, look, it really is Santa!’ ” Raub recalled.
Another time, a 90-year-old lady sat on his lap. When he asked what she’d like for Christmas, “She said, ‘More time,’ ” Raub said. That one still chokes him up.
Santalla said the best part is “to see the joy of someone who still gets the magic of Santa.”
As Mrs. Santa, Della Carrillo wears a white stole, “and the kids like to rub their cheeks against it,” she said, wistfully. “You give them all the love you can, and you leave with your heart in the base of your throat.”
Tierney said it’s a huge responsibility to be Santa, “and I don’t want to destroy any images they have, what they want to know and what they want to feel like. You don’t want to let people down, to destroy the image they’ve grown up with.”
All of the Santa substitutes agreed that it really is magic to take a child who’s reluctant, scared or even screaming and gently convince them that they’re safe, loved and listened to by someone who cares.
When that happens, Santalla said, “You put them down and they get about five feet away, then turn around, run back and give you a hug.”
Real beards make a difference to believers
While all these Santa stand-ins rock twinkling eyes, warm smiles and an elfin expression, there are differences.
Some substitute Santas, such as Tierney and Raub, sport their own long hair and beards. Others rely on manmade accessories to achieve the authentic Santa look.
One Cambria man whose Santa clone days have ended recalls dealing with a boy at the cusp of the dreaded doubting Thomas years.
The skeptical boy sat on his lap, Richard Tanner said, “and immediately challenged me, saying defiantly, ‘You’re not Santa. You’re my Uncle Leo!’ He reached up to pull on (my) ‘fake’ beard … and discovered that my beard was real and quite firmly attached to my chin.
“The wide-eyed boy sputtered, ‘You, you… you’re not my Uncle Leo! You are Santa! Mom! Mom! It’s Santa!’ ” Tanner recalled.
And that’s the magic of Christmas — the spirit of Santa and his stand-ins, as seen through the eyes of believers.
This story was originally published December 19, 2019 at 4:45 AM.
