Jennifer Harrison really digs it Claus at Christmas.
Ditching her natural blonde locks for snow white buns, rocking berry red nails and velvet outfits, the 60-year-old New Yorker is Mrs. Claus.
“Wearing that suit makes me feel alive,” Harrison, a full-time portrait of Santa’s wife, told The Post. During the second half of the year, the mother of one and author spends two hours every day getting into the glam of Ms. Claus, preparing to inspire hope for the young and young at heart in Gotham.
“When I’m Mrs. Claus, everything is magical,” Harrison said, “whether I’m spreading joy at St. Patrick’s Cathedral or down on the subway.”
“Mice are adorable too.”
But for ordinary people like Harrison, the metamorphosis into North Pole nobility, be it Mrs. Claus or her cute husband, doesn’t just happen at the blink of a reindeer’s red nose.
The transformation is intense.
From finding the right wig to growing a real moustache, gaining weight and donning a winter wardrobe, becoming a representative of the Santa line is a heavy lift with physical, mental and emotional demands.
Brant Miller, the most popular Santa at the nation’s largest mall, The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, spends an entire year — and over $1,500 — swapping his dark brown hair for boyish white heels big.
“I love being Santa Claus,” Miller, 42, a married father of two young children, told The Post.
He has filled in for Father Christmas at the mall for the past nine years, visiting over 98 children (and pets on Sundays) a day, six days a week from the end of November until 24 December.
“But,” Miller said, “I sacrifice a lot this time of year.”
Just as overtaxed moms, dads, and grandparents are prone to feeling Christmas burn (the stress caused by the holiday rush), so are Saint Nick’s stints at malls, on sidewalks, and in private photo shoots—a viral trend that costs parents over $1,000 per session.
“Santa’s shift is often long,” career experts at Monster.com noted in a recent report, adding that the boys and girls who impersonate Claus and his wife often work 12-hour shifts so that the children not notice when a new team goes for it. the day.
“In that time, you’re talking to a steady stream of children, all sharing their Christmas wishes, sometimes asking tricky questions and swearing up and down that they’ve been good,” the professionals warned.
But putting up with the kid—their whining, tantrums, and wish lists—can pay off in a big way.
Mall Santas across the U.S. earn an average of $48,997 a year, according to December data from online job marketplace ZipRecruiter.
Insiders also revealed that Kris Kringle troupes on the West Coast, in cities like Green River, Wyoming, and San Francisco, California, can raise upwards of $56,000 annually.
Anna Weggel, Miller’s wife, says his Santa salary — a figure the couple chose not to divulge — helps keep their bank account happy and bright.
“It’s hard for the kids and me not to have him home as often,” Weggel, 39, a podcast producer, told The Post. She and Miller have a three-year-old daughter, Luna, and a 10-month-old son, Remy. The Tikes affectionately refer to Miller as “Santa” during his 29-day run as an icon.
“But it really helps our family [financially],” added Weggel, who hopes to work alongside her husband as Mrs. Claus one day.
For Miller, though, the gig isn’t about the money. It’s about magic.
“There’s so much joy just watching the kids come in with smiles on their faces,” he said. “They light up.”
A former cancer infusion specialist of two decades, Miller recently left healthcare to pursue video editing and Santa full-time.
“I lose all my time and free time with my wife and kids,” he added about being Claus, “but it’s so worth it.”
To achieve the Ho-Ho-Ho pro look, Miller feeds on 10 pounds of joy a year, a character that must be made possible by brownies and chocolate chip cookies.
He also shaves his chest-length beard on Christmas morning and immediately begins to grow a new bush for the coming holiday season.
Throughout the new year, he forgoes haircuts and haircuts, allowing his strands – including his eyebrows – to grow uninterrupted.
At the dawn of autumn, he and his beautician begin the week-long process of taking his cloth from milk chocolate to winter white.
“The bleaching starts in early November, about two to three weeks before my first day as Santa,” explained Miller, whose stylist uses hair care products from Trionics, cosmetics made from kelp, to bleach his hair. his. “I did a total of three sessions to go from brown to white.”
After the first treatment, Miller’s hair boasts an “orange juice” shade that he is forced to live with for nearly a week before his next dye, which turns him into a blonde.
A week later, he is back at the beauty salon for the final bleaching.
“In between each session and after the third session, I use Olaplex’s purple shampoo, conditioner no. 3 deep, balm no. 6 and oil no. 8 to save my hair,” he said. “And while I’m working as Santa, I go back to my stylist for three more touches on the paint job.”
And then there’s his makeup.
To mimic the mug of Father Christmas, Miller paints his face in a Maybelline liquid foundation and a white cream from MEHRON.
Both eyes are a few shades lighter than his natural skin tone. A cooler shade helps the millennial look a little older, maturing him to Santa’s estimated age of around 1,700.
It’s a trick Miller learned from his mother, a former spokeswoman for Revlon and Estée Lauder, who also gave him a bottle of red liquid makeup — which is so old the label has worn off — that he he uses it on his cheeks to create a rosy glow.
“It takes about 30 minutes to do my makeup every day,” said Miller, who muses in an old Gap dressing room. “I don’t wear the traditional Santa costume, but I do wear the more casual ‘Workshop Santa’ costume.”
The outfit, a handmade number sewn by an oncology nurse who used to work at the Minnesota Opera and the Guthrie Costume Shop, consists of a pair of corduroy pants, a button-down shirt, Christmas-striped socks, Birkenstock clogs London style and a pair of wired reading glasses.
Of course, his days are long and the costs of change are high. But Miller plans to play Santa until he’s actually old and naturally gray.
“It’s something I look forward to every year.”
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Image Source : nypost.com