Being Santa Claus is a year-round calling

Not just a seasonal concert

Frankly, what’s most interesting about the journal isn’t these three basic categories, but the personalized insights it gives into people who choose to become professional Santas. While a few Santas can earn six figures, most don’t and may even lose money being Santa – they still do it out of pure love. Professional Santas generally don’t view their role as seasonal; many build their identity around it, whether or not they fit the stereotypical image of Kris Kringle. “My feeling is that if you are Santa all the time, you need to live like Santa and let go of who you are,” one subject said. “I just strive to be a better person.”

For example, they will wear red and green all year round, or maintain a full white beard. A Santa trained himself to say “Ho, ho, ho!” his natural laugh. Another redecorated his house as a “Santa House,” complete with Christmas trees and Santa figurines.

Sometimes this is seen as a role: a gay professional Santa, for example, deliberately suppresses his sexual orientation when playing Santa, while partnering with a Mrs. Claus for public appearances. However, a Santa’s wife who goes by the name Lynx (professional Santas usually take pseudonyms) and who is also a church leader likens the job to a divine calling: “I get to connect with people and remind them that they are loved,” she said. (She also binds her breasts when in costume because “Santa doesn’t have double Ds.”)

Perhaps this sense of a higher calling is why even non-prototypical Santas like Lynx persevere through occasional rejection. A black Santa remembers being denied the job at a big box store once the interviewer found out his ethnicity, telling him the store didn’t hire black or Hispanic Santas. “It hurt my heart so much,” he said. A disabled Santa who uses a scooter in parades remembers being criticized by other professional Santas for it, but he stood his ground.

And while Bad Santa (2003) might be a fun holiday watch, real “bad Santas” caught smoking, drinking, swearing, or behaving inappropriately are not popular figures within their community. “You’re never away,” one subject said. “You lose a little bit of your identity because you can’t let go and be yourself. You don’t know who’s watching you.”

“You are Santa 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year,” said another Santa. “If you act, you risk breaking the magic.”

DOI: Academy of Management Journal, 2025. 10.5465/amj.2023.1161 (About DOIs).