By Mary Ann Bourbeau
There may only be one Santa Claus working hard at the North Pole and delivering packages Christmas Eve, but he gets help from a wide range of stand-ins who bring joy to children all season long. In the Two River area, two “real beard” Santas make the most of their time as the head elf, seemingly getting as much happiness as they give each year.
Santa Tom
Thomas C. Routson started volunteering for the role of Santa Claus in the 1980s while working as an administrator in an Atlanta hospital.
“Our employee daycare center was having a party and since I was sort of fat and jolly by nature, they asked me to be Santa,” he said. “Of course, I was delighted!”
He even played Santa for his own family – for a while, at least.
“I was Santa for my children and my granddaughter – that is until they figured out who was in the suit,” he said.
Routson continued volunteering as Old St. Nick for many years but in 2016, upon retiring from the corporate world, he grew a beard and went pro. Now living in the Northeast, he became one of two Santas for Bloomingdale’s flagship store in New York City. He enjoyed the gig, but as Christmas approached and the lines got longer, he didn’t like the fact that he couldn’t spend much time with each child. Routson switched to doing mostly home visits and he couldn’t imagine a more fulfilling way to spend the holidays.
“Christmas brings families together in nice, special ways,” said the Leonardo resident. “I am filled with a most wonderful inner peace when I make private home visits, especially on Christmas Eve night. The kids are excited, the parents and grandparents are gathered around, there may be a fire in the fireplace. The tree looks wonderful and for the 30-45 minutes I’m there, I’m adding something special to their Christmas. It is truly magical to me. I never tire of this.”
It keeps Routson pretty busy, typically doing more than 120 events over the course of the season. His calendar is usually filled by early October.
“Receiving the adoration of lots of kids is fun for me,” he said. “I always wanted to be a rock star, so this is a wonderful substitute. While it’s often busy, it is so much fun!”
The children ask a lot of questions, such as “How do reindeer fly?” and “Why does Rudolph have a red nose?” and he has most of the answers ready. He also keeps up to date on the latest toys and gadgets that kids (and adults) will ask for each year.
“Kids often ask for puppies and kittens,” he said. “I tell them we had to stop bringing live animals many years ago because they pooped in my bag so badly that the elves refused to clean it up.”
As for the parents? “Adults who sit on my lap ask for cars, houses and money,” he said. “Women ask for men, but I’ve never had a man ask me for a woman.”
Not all of the requests are frivolous – or even joyful. “I have had requests for daddies to come back to their mommas and for daddies to stop hurting their moms, which is always sad.”
Routson said he also gets hot in the suit, has been peed on and at times he wants to cut off his beard, but Santa Tom has no plans to retire from this job.
“Santa has now become so much of my persona that I won’t retire from this until I become physically unable to do it,” he said.
He even kept his schedule as much as possible during the past few Christmas seasons, when many area Santa Clauses canceled gigs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I knew there was a risk, but some families wanted their Santa visit, and COVID never scared me,” he said. “I have lived a most wonderful life, and if something was going to take my life, then that would be fine. No regrets.”
Jersey Santa
When he puts on his Santa suit, Michael McClellan of Elberon is ready for any question the kids might throw at him. As a seasoned actor and artistic director of the Stone Church Players, he thoroughly enjoys the art of improv.
“There are no lines to learn,” he said. “It’s the best theater gig you can get.”
Known as Jersey Santa, McClellan visits homes, restaurants and photo studios along with his sidekick Christine Jay, aka Mrs. Santa. Jay is the owner of the Jersey Santa business.
“We met at Stone Church Players and we come as a team,” he said. “It’s good to have a person to play off of. And sometimes the children relate more to Mrs. Claus because Santa can seem intimidating.”
McClellan recalls his childhood days in Ohio when the family would take the train to Cleveland to visit Santa Claus in a large department store.
“It was a whole village that you walked into,” he said. “It was like being transported into a dream.”
Now his goal is to keep that dream alive for as long as possible in the children he meets at every event.
“Seeing that smile on their face and the spark of hope and magic in their eyes is like nothing else,” said McClellan. “Sometimes you also see that reaction in the parents who still want to hold on to some of that magic.”
This real bearded Santa enjoys home visits because the children are in a place where they are most at ease, as opposed to a photo studio.
“In the studio, there are children who come in absolutely terrified of Santa and there’s a lot of pressure from the parents to get the perfect picture even though the child is screaming,” he said.
As for gift requests, McClellan said last year he got a lot of requests for the
iPhone 14.
“They were from kids who probably weren’t even ready for a phone yet,” he said. “It’s interesting to see if they are coached or if they just let their imaginations run wild. I had a 5-year-old ask for a motorcycle. Sometimes they’ll ask for something more obscure, like an elephant. I ask them if they think an elephant would be comfortable in their bathroom and then I suggest something related, like tickets to a zoo.”
Still, it’s not always an easy job. McClellan points to a home visit last year in which a child asked for his friend to come home from Ukraine.
“My heart was in my mouth and it took me a second to speak,” he said. “I looked at the parents and they motioned that it was in the works. I was glad to add a little hope.”
McClellan loves being able to spread the joy of Christmas to all the children he meets.
“I think there’s a real need today for that spark of magic,” he said. “Social media and TV feed all these kinds of dark images. They need the hope that miracles can happen.”
For more information on Jersey Santa, visit jerseysanta.com. For Santa Tom, email santatomnj@gmail.com.
The article originally appeared in the December 7 – December 13, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
