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They love talking to kids, making adults laugh and spreading some holiday cheer in a year where joy has been in short supply. Several mentioned buying presents
-- or even Christmas trees -- for needy families. Trolli's group encourages members to book charity events for free or reduced prices if they don't get paying gigs. A lucky few -- mostly in wealthier parts of the country -- are reporting a booming business. Doug Peters of Davie, Fla., said he's had an excellent couple of years; last year, a wealthy customer on the exclusive South Florida enclave of Fisher Island asked him to work Christmas Eve. Peters charged $500 an hour and the customer didn't blink. Still, being Santa isn't cheap. A decent-looking fake-fur trimmed red jacket, hat, pants and boots cost upward of $1,000. And that's not even counting an authentic-looking beard. Walter J. Wood -- also known as Santa Woody -- is a Phoenix-area Kris Kringle who looks like something out of a holiday Coca-Cola ad. The $100 an hour he charges "really doesn't recoup the costs," he said, especially when you take into account gas, travel time and the expense of miscellaneous items like beard glue. "I glue my beard on -- no one else does that," said Wood, whose other job as a painting contractor also hasn't had much success this year. "I can eat a cookie in front of a kid and the kid won't know."
Steve Robinson, a 47-year-old Santa in St. Petersburg, Fla. whose main job is as a grocery store baker, has another suspicion about why he's gotten fewer bookings this year. "The kids are learning younger and younger that Santa isn't real and that mom and dad buy the presents," he sighed. "I can pretty much light up a room as long as the kids are 10 and under."
[Associated
Press;
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