The pick of the St. Nicks ‘Manitoba Santa’ knows it takes a lot more than a hearty ‘ho-ho-ho’ and a fake beard to hob-nob with the cream of the Kris Kringle crop By: David Sanderson Posted: 4:30 PM CST Friday, Dec. 22, 2023

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This article was published 22/12/2023 (962 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Online testimonials hail him as “nothing short of amazing” and “absolutely perfect,” but if a Winnipegger who bills himself as Manitoba Santa was looking for an even stronger endorsement, he received it earlier this month, courtesy a true believer.

Manitoba Santa, who prefers to keep his identity under wraps, was spending his Saturday afternoon at a downtown photography studio posing for family portraits. Despite knowing when you are sleeping, and when you’re awake, Manitoba Santa isn’t one to eavesdrop. Still, he couldn’t help overhearing a brother’s aside to his younger sister, during their visit.

Ten or 11 is usually the age kids start to question whether Saint Nick is legit or not, Manitoba Santa says, seated inside a bustling shopping centre sans his fabulously authentic getup, which, to date, has set him back north of $5,000 to assemble, one custom-made piece at a time.

Because of that, it was music to his ears when the boy, whom he judged to be about that old, whispered to his sibling that unlike the Santas their parents take them to at the mall, this was the “real deal.”

“It’s inevitable children lose the magic or whatever you want to call it eventually,” says Manitoba Santa, who draws quizzical glances from passers-by, when he removes an exquisitely stitched, crown-style toque from an unmarked box, and slips it on top of his head for show-and-tell purposes.

“That said, I have definitely managed to bring a few kids back to the believing side, at least for one more Christmas.”

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Manitoba Santa allows that he is in his early 40s, and that when he isn’t working with some of Winnipeg’s best photographers or making personal appearances at private households, where he’s been known to roll up his red sleeves and help bake a batch of cookies or two, he works professionally, Monday to Friday.

It’s also permissible to reveal that he grew up in the Dauphin area, and that he’s an unabashed Christmas nerd, through and through.

“I have vivid memories of lying under my family’s tree, staring up at the ornaments for hours on end, and I still stop in my tracks whenever I spot anything Christmassy, no matter how silly or cheesy,” he says, listing 1985’s Santa Claus: The Movie, starring the late Dudley Moore, as his most cherished holiday flick.

“I still stop in my tracks whenever I spot anything Christmassy, no matter how silly or cheesy.”–Manitoba Santa

Like scores of others, he went through a bit of an emotional roller coaster during the early days of the pandemic.

“I was hardly seeing anybody in person, there were all these restrictions in place… it just felt like I needed something to devote my attention to,” he says, taking a sip of his coffee.

With Christmas 2020 on the horizon, he found himself harking back to those occasions when he’d posed as Santa for get-togethers with relatives and how, even though he’d done so “on the cheap,” it always put a smile on everybody’s face. What if he upped his game, he wondered, by investing as much energy and resources as it would take, to transform himself into the holly-jolliest Claus this city and province had ever seen?

That fall, he began reaching out to Kris Kringles from all over the world, ones whose ensembles were vastly superior to what’s generally available at a party store, based on how they presented themselves on Facebook.

What he discovered was that the top Santas are very protective of what it is they do, and frown on anyone who makes light of the profession.

It took a while to gain their trust, he remembers, but once he had, he was welcomed into “this absolutely wonderful community” he never dreamed existed. Starting in early 2021, his new acquaintances, a handful of whom belong to the International Santa Claus Hall of Fame, happily dispensed advice on a wide array of topics.

That included everything from where to go shopping for a proper parade coat (his scarlet model was sewn by a tailor based in Hollywood) to where to order leather boots from (the 80-year-old cobbler who fashioned his also created many of the costumes for the live-action Grinch movie) to how to handle delicate situations, like when a parent who’s down on their luck is shaking their head “no” in the background when their child is going through a list of wants.

And OK, maybe he doesn’t currently qualify for membership in the International Brotherhood of Real Bearded Santas, but the synthetic beard-and-moustache combo he was tipped off about, which takes close to an hour to apply with a special adhesive, has thus far fooled everybody into thinking it’s homegrown.

Looking the part is one thing. Conveying the spirit of the season through words and action is doubly important, he was told over and over again.

“No doubt about it, my No. 1 mentor has been Cliff Snider,” he says, referring to a North Carolinian who’s been portraying Santa Claus for 59 years running, and who holds a Doctor of Santa Claus degree from — where else? — the International University of Santa Claus.

“Early on, I told him I didn’t know how I was ever going to measure up to all these amazing Santas. He said to stop questioning myself, and that when you put on the suit, you are Santa, and it’s as simple as that.”

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Jennifer De Delley and her husband have maintained a sprawling elf village on their River Heights property every Christmas since 2006.

The couple was introduced to Manitoba Santa last December, when they were awarded a personal visit from him by Winnipeg Christmas Map, a Facebook account that shines a light on the best decorated abodes in town. A few weeks ago, Manitoba Santa reached out to the De Delleys, to inquire about a return engagement.

“My husband and I told him that would be wonderful, but knowing how hectic this time of year is for him, we said we wanted to compensate him fully,” De Delley says. “He wouldn’t hear of it. He said he enjoyed being at our place so much last year that he couldn’t wait to come back, to do it all over again for free.”

De Delley doesn’t have children of her own, but she says she was as excited as an eight-year-old the afternoon he showed up in full garb.

“We had a lineup of kids from the neighbourhood, and he was so kind and patient with every last one of them,” she continues, adding that as he was leaving, he gave her a tiny, gold-plated bell that, if he was being truthful, fell off one of the reindeer’s collars, that very morning.

“All the adults I spoke with were like ‘he’s the best, where did you get him?’ I said we didn’t get him. He got us. That’s what Manitoba Santa does.”

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As packed as his schedule has become in only his second full season toting a sack (he is already booked for dates in November and December 2024, thanks largely to his eye-popping Instagram account) Manitoba Santa still has a few things on his to-do list.

For starters, he would love nothing better than to bring up the rear in Winnipeg’s annual Santa Claus parade, somewhere down the road. Also, owing to a second outfit he owns that pays homage to his Indigenous heritage, he sees no reason why Manitoba Santa can’t keep things going, past Dec. 25.

“It’s a Métis-style, red wool suit I had made to reflect my culture, and it comes with a St. Boniface sash and floppy voyageur tuque,” he says, scrolling through his phone to find a shot of himself sporting it at a recent outdoor event.

“From what I can tell, I’m the only voyageur Santa in the world so if anybody from Festival (du Voyageur) wants to give me a call, that’d be great.”

As for yes, Virginia-esque anecdotes, Manitoba Santa has one he’d like to share, before bidding a merry Christmas to all.

A couple of weeks ago, a woman who appeared to be in her 70s approached him at a public appearance, and asked if it was alright if she sat on his lap. One hundred per cent, he replied.

In a quiet but serious tone, she told him that her lone wish was for her family to stay healthy, and to be able to enjoy Christmas surrounded by her grandchildren.

“It was like her inner child was coming out as she was speaking, and I was happy to give her the Santa moment she seemed to be seeking, or in need of.”

david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca