Original subtitles

I got it. I got it.

It doesn't bend well, that's all.

The right knee is the worst one.

There you go.

You skinny guys will have to sit at the end.

Dick, you've been doing this

probably longer than any of us.

I mean, you must have some stories about...

Oh, sure.

This little boy was waiting...

In line.

And he was just jumping, and he held his hands,

and he was smiling like crazy, you know?

And, like, he just could not wait to get to see Santa.

And so, finally, it's his turn.

And I says, "And so how are you?"

And he says, "I pooped!"

So I've got one.

A lot of times they'll say,

"All right, if you're the real Santa, what's my name?"

Oh, I got that one.

And usually what I say is, "Listen, I only know

"the names of the children on the nice list.

I don't know your name."

So I got a call to book a Santa.

And she said, "Is he white?"

And I was like, "Well, yeah, I mean

all the Santas I have are white."

So I'm thinking about trying to bring on people

who can...

So you can offer Santas

who aren't kind of the cookie cutter,

white, 65 years old, fat.

Now, some clients will disagree

because they have a very specific thing

they want in their Santa.

The way I explained it one time

when I got challenged on it was,

well, I started with the history of Santa, okay?

Santa originated

in the European continent,

and the predominant population was white.

So Santa would be white.

- Actually... - That's wrong.

Jesus Christ and St. Nicholas

would have been brown, not white.

I'm talking about trying to explain

to a four-year-old child

why she can't have a Black Santa.

It doesn't matter.

It just doesn't matter whether they're gay,

they're white, they're Jewish, they're Black.

Being the oldest member of this group,

for my generation, at first,

this was a little difficult to accept.

But God created no junk.

You know?

So it doesn't matter.

Oh, about ten years ago,

we created the New England Santa Society.

And it's open for Santas of all types,

Mrs. Clauses, elves, and other holiday performers.

We have a lot of really experienced Santas.

I mean, we have Santas who have been doing it 30, 40, 50 years.

So we created a school,

which is now called Santa Camp.

It's starting to become more visible

and we're starting to do much more promotion of it.

So this is one of the most popular top reasons

to come to Santa Camp.

We have some photos. We have some videos.

We do have our kazoo band.

One of the things I think really sets

our Santa school apart

is that we have been trying to reach out

to more and more types of Santas

and Santas from different backgrounds,

just

people who are different.

But I think sometimes the issue we run into

is that people just have a very

specific idea of what Santa should look like.

And I think a lot of times, it's their childhood Santa,

the one they remember as kids.

Does Santa need to have a look?

Well, he's certainly got to look

something like Santa Claus.

It must be a red suit, black belt, beard.

And it's much better if they can pull it, okay?

You can get, like, a heat iron,

and you just kind of curl it and roll it under.

The belly can be padded.

Mine is real. I can't hide that.

I think people definitely have an expectation

of how Santa should look.

A few years ago, I understand that they did hire

a Black Santa at the Mall of America.

And apparently it didn't go so well,

and there was a lot of pushback about it,

and not everybody was thrilled with the idea.

A Black Santa Claus at the Mall of America,

the country's largest mall,

is causing a torrent of hateful, racist comments.

With some people online even calling for a boycott.

There was some talk on the Internet,

not from other Santas.

Unfortunately, in America, we're not quite at the stage

where everybody can be accepted as Santa Claus.

I just don't know why it's necessary.

I don't understand why people feel

they need a Black Santa Claus.

Changing the race is cultural appropriation.

For all you kids watching at home, Santa just is white.

How do you just revise it,

you know, in the middle of the legacy of the story

and change Santa from white to Black?

I mean, you can't.

- This is Rudy. - This is our baby.

Look at how big he's grown. See those antlers?

Santa has reindeer all over the world,

in case he should have a problem with the Elite Eight

on his special trips.

You all pooped and tuckered.

Oh, there you go. You gonna take a little nap?

Santa likes to take a nap

in the afternoon, too, sometimes, you know?

My role as Mrs. Claus started in 2006.

I had just retired.

Yeah, I spent 40 years working in engineering,

which was pretty much a male-dominated field.

So, yeah, so when I make up for the character as Mrs. Claus...

She ain't being disrespected, you know?

It's like, I am not the warm-up act for Santa.

I come in on his arm. I am his wife.

I am not an elf doing all those things

that I think the elves do.

Let's see.

Santa loves Mrs. Claus. Mrs. Claus loves Santa.

There's no doubt about that.

But as the world has changed, so has Mrs. Claus.

We've come a long way, baby.

In a few weeks, I'm gonna be up in Manchester, New Hampshire,

at the Santa Camp.

And I'm gonna be doing a program

with a couple other Santas and Mrs. Clauses

about issues with Mrs. Claus.

I think everybody wants to be treated fairly and equally,

and, you know, that's just the way it is.

But how pushy are you gonna be about it, you know?

And it's like, "I'm pushy."

- Merry Christmas! - Hi.

- Yo, Santa! - Hey, guys. How are you?

- Yeah! - Good to see you.

- Say cookies! - Cookies!

So today there's gonna be a lot of Santas

running around the park.

Once we're away from Christmas,

we meet pretty much every month as a group.

Hey, Santa.

Well, hello, there, young man.

We like to dress up, have different outfits.

This is our summer Santa style.

That shit's going deep!

Hi!

Okay.

I thought that was a smile coming.

Hey, come on over.

Are you gonna get a picture, or you just want to chat?

- Both! - All right.

Let's get a good background here.

We'll get this banana background.

A real live Santa Claus.

You have the new kicks.

No! These were made by an elf.

So Santa was, like, definitely my biggest idol.

That's why I'm, like, kind of shocked right now.

He was like, my hero, definitely.

Have you always seen Santa as being white?

Yes. I wish there was, like, a variety of Santas

that are willing to come in different colors

to let people know that they could come

in any different shape and form, you know?

But that's not how the world, like, is right now, so...

- But it could change. - Yeah.

- Yeah, things are changing. - Hopefully.

You just got to find 'em.

Yeah.

Jolly.

Santa Claus is just an idea.

And the fact that a Black child

wants to have a Black Santa, somebody who looks like them,

what's the problem?

I mean

that's it.

It's Santa.

I mean...

The look in the kids' eyes

when they meet you, and...

That's what it's about.

Excuse me.

Here in New Hampshire,

we don't have huge minority populations,

so we have been reaching out to people outside New England.

"Black Santa Claus."

And there's a Santa named Chris.

He's Black.

And he has a heck of a story to tell.

A North Little Rock man's Facebook post is going viral

after showing a letter he received in the mail.

He claims that he was the target of a racist note...

Attacking him for not having a white Santa.

I have never had any problems out of anybody.

All of a sudden, we got a problem with Black Santa.

But this man

he ain't coming down.

We moved to North Little Rock specifically for our daughter.

We wanted to offer her a great education

from the very beginning.

I'm drawing Santa.

No, I'm gonna do a little bit of brown.

He's kind of chocolaty.

But, you know, we're Black people

in a predominantly white neighborhood.

- That is the Karen right there. - Yes.

- She making blocks. - Yeah, she is.

- And she's calling. - Calling who?

- The police, I guess. - Psycho.

When you're walking by yourself,

that's why I definitely feel the need

that you need to be in bright clothing.

Like, I prefer that your cell phone case

be a bright, obnoxious color so someone can obviously tell

that it is a cell phone and not a gun.

Representation is a big thing for our family.

And I have a ten-foot-tall inflatable Black Santa.

One day I checked the mail,

and there was a letter in there.

I opened it. I got mad.

I was definitely angry. In fact, I was livid.

This is the type of people that I live around.

This is the type of people

that I have to raise my daughter around.

These are the type of people that I have to worry about.

This is what I got.

- Can I ask you to read it? - I really don't want to.

Like, it just...

Yeah.

Because one of the things... I start stuttering,

and that makes me even more frustrated.

And so that's why I generally don't read it out loud.

So, yeah.

It was 100% an attack on who I am as a person.

We, of course, thought,

"Did we pick the right neighborhood to live in?

And should we be looking to move?"

That's what we live next door to.

A stupid Confederate flag.

It's the clear and present danger for us.

I needed to channel the anger

into something that wasn't negative.

So I went and rented a Santa costume

and played Santa Claus for my daughter.

Down and across.

I want to be able to be Black Santa

for other families.

So I'm gonna be going up to New Hampshire

to a Santa camp

to learn all the ins and outs of being Santa.

This is what I created.

How long have you been a Santa?

I've been a Santa since I was 16 years old.

I'm 69 years old in human years now.

So 53 years.

I have been to Santa Camp three years in a row.

It helps me connect with other like-minded people.

You learn techniques.

And you learn the business

'cause the business of Santa Claus is very big.

I could easily walk away

with $2,000 a night.

There's a particular Santa that comes from Rhode Island.

He's known as Santa to the Stars.

I mean, he has a house in Italy.

I mean, he has a house in California,

and he drives brand-new cars.

I think there's approximately

5,000 to 6,000 professional Santas.

And you know the whole reason of having professional Santas

is to improve, like a guild.

You meet people and learn from their experiences.

It's like a big family.

Santa Society is like a brotherhood.

We quite often call ourselves "The Brothers in Red."

Into your hands, oh, God,

we commend Your servant Dick Marshall.

It doesn't matter.

God created no junk.

All that he did, Dick offered love

and compassion and faith

shared through joy and a bit of hope and magic.

On behalf of Dick Marshall's family,

you are welcomed here.

All are welcomed here

because as Dick so amply enjoyed saying...

Perfect. Thanks.

That "God don't make no junk."

Look at this one with the wig flying back.

Dick looks like he's terrified, you know.

In that one. Both: Yep.

- It was just so sudden. - It was heartbreaking.

Yeah. He was very supportive of the move now

to try to expand the diversity of the Santa community

and trying to brainstorm,

like, how do we reach out, how do we find those people?

Well, you can't put an ad in the paper, say,

"Any dwarfs out there that want to be Santa Claus,

"particularly if you're Jewish

and of a different color."

There's no way for us to ask for that

that I'm aware of without offending.

There is that

conservatism sometimes in the Santa community

that's very closed.

But I think that was the nice thing with Dick,

is that it didn't matter what you look like.

Being Santa is in the heart.

All right. Whoa!

Stay.

How's this one? Oh, this one's good.

- There he is. - Ho, ho, ho!

- Hi. - It's nice to meet you.

Now, I have a question.

Is there anything that we need to do or

I mean, have you ever had a nonspeaking person there

at Santa Camp before or anything?

- This will be the first. - Oh, okay.

'Cause it's a little bit...

You know, going into a new situation with lots of people

can be a little daunting.

Because Fin Barre's a Santa with spin a bifida,

and I don't know if that's a situation...

Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho.

Doesn't have any problem with the "ho, ho, ho" part, however.

Yeah. That's right.

In here is

the lair of Santa Fin.

And there he is.

I love everything about Santa.

Really? I couldn't tell.

What's that device that you're holding?

My iPad.

So Fin is what's called a multimodal communicator,

meaning he uses his hands, his body, his iPad,

and his voice to communicate.

Can it ever be hard to communicate?

Yes.

Except when he has the big red suit on.

The magic just... Clicks.

What's the best thing about being Santa?

I fly around in a sleigh.

- Ho, ho, ho, ho. - Your sleigh.

Anytime anyone sees anything that says "ho, ho, ho" on it,

it ends up in this room somehow.

That's a gift. That's a gift. That's a gift. That's a gift.

And he's got that whole snow-globe thing

going on here, too.

So we need to do all sorts of updates

on the Santa Fin website.

Okay. And maybe we might have some giveaway.

I'm not quite sure what that would be.

- T-shirts. - T-shirts.

Candy.

I want my elves to give out stuffed bears.

- You want to do that? - Cool.

So, on the homepage, it says, "It all started with a dream,

"a dream to follow his passion and be a real Santa,

regardless of any obstacle that may have been in his way."

What are some of those obstacles?

Well, what's happened a lot in the past

when we've reached out to places,

they're like, "Yeah, a special... What?

"No. What?

No, we couldn't have a special-needs Santa."

And, I mean, I've had people that have said to me, you know,

"Can I catch what he has?" It's like...

- What? - "I don't know,

but you caught an awful lot of stupid, like"...

Yeah, you caught stupid.

Fin, how did that make you feel?

- Sad. - Sad? Yeah.

- Sad. - Yeah, it's super painful.

I don't know, man.

He's typing something.

Go ahead, honey.

I want to be a Santa in a December parade.

Okay.

What is it about being in a parade

that's, like, so important to you?

I want to show everyone that I am the real Santa.

- It's his dream, so... - Yes.

All right, so...

Hi there, Kay. This is Suki.

I had texted you about a month or so ago about the parade.

- Hello. - I'm calling.

I know it's August, but I've got a kind of wild idea.

- Well, maybe. - I don't know who...

Oh, no, I lost him.

Unreal.

So we have been reaching out to Santas

of different backgrounds...

Like this Santa named Levi.

He's trans.

Ho, ho, ho.

Santa Levi, aka Trans Santa here.

Actually, he looks pretty good as a Santa.

That's what we're looking for.

We literally went to Target and bought a Santa onesie.

Look how cute we are.

Look at Levi with the babies.

Most of the kids cried.

I think the night before and that morning,

I, like, practiced ho-ho-ho-ing

'cause that was, like, really

I was like, oh, wait. I have to like,

talk to people in a Santa-y,

like, boisterous like, "ho, ho, ho," right?

'Cause, you know, it takes a while for your voice

to change when you're taking testosterone.

But in a Santa suit, everybody likes you,

so it's fine.

- We met online. - Yeah.

I was fresh out of a relationship.

He was newish to Chicago.

Can I talk about you for a second?

- Yeah. - When we met,

Levi knew that he was a boy

but had no desire to ever transition.

I just didn't want to be an old white guy

having privilege and not recognizing privilege and

I don't want to be that.

I like being other.

And part of that is being Trans Santa

and being, like, a super queer fat Mrs. Claus...

And killing it.

Check that out.

- Oh, boo. - Oh!

- Still have zero, by the way. - Oh, I'm losing.

When Heidi found out there was a Santa Camp,

she immediately was like, "Yeah, we're going."

And I was like, "Why?"

What is not appealing about Santa Camp?

I mean, come on! That sounds amazing.

'Cause to me, I think like,

Santa in, like, big armchairs that are cozy, right?

So that's what I visualized.

Look at all that wood paneling.

Yeah. And a lot of red.

- Oh. - Oh.

They're all white.

Are they all white?

I mean

at a first visual capture, they appear to be all white.

It's true.

Are you still as excited to go as you were?

You okay?

Like, I genuinely want to go

and learn how to be a better Santa.

Hope I'm accepted by the other Santas.

Fuck 'em if you're not, babe.

- It's true, but... - Like, come on.

People need to see themselves in role models.

For sure.

Like, if I saw a trans Santa when I was a kid

and I was like

you know, when I was a kid, I didn't really know,

like, what trans was.

It would be... comforting. I don't know.

- Empowering. - Definitely empowering.

Yeah.

Now I'm starting to get, like, choked up a little bit.

- I can tell. - I don't know.

What are you thinking?

Sorry.

It would have made a difference for you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

The preparations have begun.

Here we go.

Starting with the fat suit.

So how are you feeling?

I am excited for Santa Camp.

Oops. Now it's just totally coming off.

This needs to get fixed as well.

You gonna wear this at Santa Camp?

Cool. It's gonna be perfect.

Fin is asking every day,

"Is it time to go to camp? Is it time to go to camp?"

I think it's gonna be hot at camp, so

no velvet.

- I get anxious. - I worry, for sure.

I don't want him to get hurt.

I particularly don't want anybody to call him,

like, the R word.

There could be some people that would think,

"Oh, you know,

"shouldn't have someone like that being Santa," you know.

I mean, there could be somebody in a group of 100 people

that would feel that way.

I mean, the probability is fairly high, I would say

particularly old white men.

You gonna bring your beard, too?

Yeah.

It needs a good brush.

It's amazing, really, the things that he can do

that they told me he would never do.

The doctor said he'd never walk and talk,

that he'd be a quadriplegic.

Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho.

When you have spin a bifida, usually it's like

a lot of moms are told, "Your son's gonna...

"Or your daughter's gonna be a vegetable.

Find a good institution and visit them on the weekend,"

which is what they told me.

And I went, "This is not your decision.

And I am done listening to this."

And I never looked back,

and I never, ever stopped.

What about that cool "ho, ho, ho" vest?

Mom made this for you.

It's a long journey.

I mean, 30 years is a long time.

It's a big chunk of my life

that I've devoted to this young man.

I'm 65. I'm tired.

That will be good for Santa Camp.

We are going to camp

to have Fin have the best experience that he can

because this is his passion.

And oddly enough, it's become mine as well.

All right, let's start.

Let's get to work.

- All right. - I'm taking this one.

A couple mosquitoes flying around here.

Good to see you, Santa.

Oh, and it's good to see you, Santa, as well.

Ho! All: Ho!

Ho, ho, ho! All: Ho, ho, ho!

Santa Camp is not something

that I had grown up envisioning myself doing,

so this is definitely a new one on me.

I mean, Black Santa is not widely celebrated.

There's not very many of us, so

oh, it's definitely gonna be a strange experience.

- This must be Santa. - It is Santa.

- Has to be a Santa. - We're glad you're here.

- I'm happy to be here. - Yeah.

- You're close with your shoes. - Orange is close to red.

I actually do not own a lot of red.

Most of the things that I own are green.

All right, we're gonna come right up to the sign.

Half circle around.

Elves to the front.

Are you getting excited?

Santa's here.

You with the white beard.

Smile.

I say "Santa," you say "Claus."

Santa! All: Claus!

Santa! All: Claus!

I say "Missus," you say "Claus."

Missus! All: Claus!

Missus! All: Claus!

I say "Rudolph," you say "reindeer."

Rudolph! All: Reindeer!

I many times have, in the past few weeks,

thought that this is really nuts, really crazy.

Oh!

Oops.

Santa Camps generally attract

gentlemen of a certain age.

Older gentlemen who have cultivated fat tummies...

And very serious about their beards.

Usually God-fearing kind of, like, Vietnam-vet guys

and Christian guys and

guys, you know?

Heads up.

We're going into Santa world, and

I have no idea how it's gonna go,

because we are very different...

Really different.

Are you nervous, Fin?

Got to do it for The Fin because it's his dream.

Oh, damn it.

I know you're excited.

Please try to calm down, okay?

Hi.

Hi, everybody. I am Santa Fin.

Fin, your name tag.

We'll worry about Wi-Fi later.

Oh, yes. Yeah.

- Wi-Fi, where's the Wi-Fi? - Yeah, right, right.

Okay, that's for Fin.

Okay, there you go, Santa Fin.

Yeah.

- This is my son Fin. - I'm his momager.

Hi, Fin. Pleasure to meet you.

I'm Dave. I'm one of the instructors.

I've been Santa for six years.

Awesome. Awesome.

- There you go, like that. - Look right at me.

Now...

There you go.

All right. Are you ready to go, Fin?

Your turn, dude.

All right, and look right at the child

like the child is telling you what's on their list.

I felt very nervous.

But he usually wins everybody over

regardless of all of the obstacles.

- All right, you're all set. - All right.

And who's next?

Let me push the button here, see if it goes on.

Smile.

Snow, let it snow, let it snow.

That's a good shot.

They won't believe that in Rhode Island.

So what was Christmas like down in Arkansas?

Well, I actually grew up in Texas.

- Oh, you did? Okay. - Yeah.

My mom's a lesbian.

So Santa was a Black lesbian woman for me.

Okay.

I think

sometimes you just worry that you're going to say

the wrong thing and offend somebody.

You know, you're just not sure

how to deal with those situations,

especially today, in today's politically correct world

and cancel culture and everything.

You're just so afraid what to say.

- Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you. I'm Suki.

- Hi. Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.

We've tried to really work on just making ourselves

more familiar with what's going on.

And, I mean, you know, we were talking today

on another topic,

but just the whole pronouns issue,

that for us old guys,

it's like, "My pronoun?" You know?

Things have really changed recently

in acknowledging the gender issues.

- "Gender issues"? - And I was like...

- Yep. - They're trying.

But there's some other verbiage we could use

other than, like, "issues."

Grab a seat.

All right.

So we have a lot of new Santas.

Chris, who is a Black Santa,

he's from Little Rock, Arkansas,

and then Levi

is transgender, male.

So they're getting into this

in a very different way than most of us did.

You know, there are things we might have to think about.

We've got to get used to it,

because as the last census bureau said,

we are a minority now.

So the biggest hurdle

that's embedded in everybody's mind

is that Santa is a elderly,

older white male,

and it's the toughest thing.

When somebody sees a Black Santa, they're like,

"Mm, oh, jeez, that's not what we were raised with."

To me, it wouldn't be a shock,

but it would be different

because it'll be the first time I've seen one.

Yeah, okay, let's move along,

'cause we still got a lot to do.

I hope it works.

Yeah.

As a school for Santas and Mrs. Clauses and helpers,

we try to cover

the whole gamut of being Santa.

All: Dasher, Dancer,

Prancer, Vixen...

You have to know the basics of the Santa legend.

All: Rudolph.

Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid...

But you develop your own Santa.

All: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner.

We have people who have

20, 30 years of experience.

Always the first question is...

"You're not the real Santa.

I know you're not the real Santa."

What's your answer to it? What's your answer to it?

Anybody?

- Yes. I am real. - Excellent.

It's exactly what I say... "Of course I am. I'm Santa.

Ow, ooh. Ow, that hurt. I'm real. Look, pinch me."

We've got a lot of Mrs. Clauses now,

and they're looking to figure out

how they can really become part of the community.

Round ones on the front part.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We really try to make it an interactive program.

Okay, so Santa loves to laugh, right?

So what do you do first is you start with a little giggle.

- No. - Please join me.

- Can you say "ho, ho, ho"? - Come on, Fin.

Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho.

Good job, Fin.

The most common thing we hear after camp is,

"I think my brain's gonna explode."

Being the only person of color here,

it was definitely lonely and awkward,

to say the least.

Does Santa have a diversity problem?

Boy, that is a good question.

Why is he predominantly white?

Um...

Hmm.

I don't know if it's a diversity problem

or it's just people accept that Santa is a certain way.

It's probably historical.

Yeah.

And, actually, the first Santa was from Turkey.

So he really wasn't white.

He was

olive, would you say?

Santa's an icon.

Coke was a big promoter of what Santa looked like,

to the point where you have customers

who come along and say, "I want Santa."

And they know exactly what they want.

They want the Coke Santa.

Over all the years I've done this,

I have never been asked by a child,

"How come you're white?

How come Santa isn't Black like me?"

So kids don't see color.

Do you find that the challenge of being a Santa,

when most of us look like this, is tough,

or do you think it's gonna become more and more accepted?

I don't think it'll be as tough as most would think

because there is a request, a need out there.

For us, the closest Santa

would have been New Orleans or Houston.

- Yeah. - Five to nine hours away.

So I'm gonna be my own.

Are you looking to be Santa elsewhere?

- Yes. - In other words...

- Okay. - Yes.

It's... that's

yeah.

So... yeah.

I don't necessarily think that other Santas

were asked those kind of questions.

There are definitely a few Santas

that are uncomfortable with a Santa of color

or, in general, with me being here.

But it's not a new experience to me

because I've gone through it all my life.

It's not a ball, teddy bear.

Santa, of course, is the limelight,

but Mrs. Claus has been coming up into that limelight

quite a bit in the last,

I don't know, eight to ten years.

I needed an outlet for the seriousness of nursing.

And now we're here. So you just never know.

I think that the Mrs. Santas tend to be overlooked a lot.

Sometimes you feel like, "Ah, nobody cares."

Santa and Mrs. Claus don't always get along.

No, because they're two different people,

sometimes with two different opinions about things.

Most of the time they better, though.

Any of you who are Mrs. Clauses

it is a chore

trying to make sure they're all dressed

and they look good and they're presentable

and they have their white gloves and they're all clean.

That's interesting.

After all these years,

I wondered how my stuff all got put together.

Just a comment on that.

It's good for the kids to see that they're married,

that they're married like their parents are married,

that it's not that much different,

except that he's Santa Claus and that's Mrs. Claus.

Santa is often considered the lead performer,

and Mrs. Claus is the support character.

How do each of you balance your performances

to share that spotlight?

I have heard Santas ask for the pricing schedule,

and it'd be $100 for me and Mrs. Claus.

And they said, "Well, you know, that's a little steep.

How about if Mrs. Claus doesn't come?"

And he says, "Then it'll be $150."

That's a good point.

We have another idea to that.

Let him have it!

Anybody know how to spell "doghouse"?

Excuse me, I'm looking for the real Santa.

It's like when you go to a show

to see the Rolling Stones and they have a warm-up act.

Boo!

No, that's not the way we do it.

- It's... it's... - My turn.

I don't even know where to start with all this.

But I will say that I think

that your pricing structure needs to be rethought.

That was rough.

Can I help you, Santa?

Can you dress yourself?

- Stop it! - Are you gonna be okay?

Do you need the fluff your fur? 'Cause... what the fuck?

- Yeah, it was... - No.

During the Mr. and Mrs. Claus panel, we, like,

had to, like, nonverbally check in with each other.

There was a lot of hand squeezing.

Like, "Let's hold this together.

Like, are you gonna say something?"

- Breathing. - Yeah.

And, like, the consistent narrative through that panel

was, like, "Mrs. Claus'" whole purpose

is, like, keeping her Santa together.

- Yeah. - Gross.

Like, we're not there anymore, I hope.

I wish we would have said something when the guy said

that it should be

this traditional "husband and wife" thing.

It didn't feel like a space where I could be like,

"I'm sorry. What the fuck?"

That was my... Coming out of it, I really wish

that I would have said something

or stood up in that moment.

I think we're learning what we can.

And in the moments where we just, like,

are not getting any value out of this,

we're gonna go and make our own fun.

We're stealing this.

This is officially our golf cart now.

Don't tip.

- Uh-oh. We're off-roading now. - Floor it!

Don't "transplain" driving to me.

I'm sorry.

Birdie's in the tree.

Merry Christmas!

- Santa Land. - Santa Land.

Oh.

Oh, no, that's the hawk.

Is that the red tail?

- Yeah. - Yeah.

I'm not what you would call a conventional Mrs. Claus.

I guess you could say I'm not a dress wearer.

In literature and pictures,

I don't think I've ever once seen Santa

with a woman with pants on.

That looks awful.

And she's got a really cool belt.

I think that ties it all together.

- What do I wear? - What does Mrs. Claus wear?

So I have, you know, the little colonial bonnet.

Put a little holly in my hair.

- Oh, God. - I know, right?

Oh, my God.

You can make any kind of music you want.

Walmart, online, $18.

My view is Mrs. Claus is Santa's wife.

When he's not there, she's in charge.

She takes care of him like any good wife, you know?

- I'm sorry. I'm Dr. Claus. - Like, I am not the wife.

Like, I have my PhD. You're not gonna call me Mrs. Claus.

I'm Dr. Claus.

My spouse is trans, and I'm queer.

Like, actually, when we come together,

I really want to not bring up the fact that we're married

and instead really emphasize, like, Santa's got a job,

and I've got a job, and we work together

and really make that space for folks.

- Yay. - Bravo.

- I love... I don't know... doctor. - That's, like, the best.

That's so great.

Yeah, I like the idea that it can be fluid.

And I like the idea of being a goddess as well.

Hey, you know, Mrs. Claus is real.

She's here. She's a part of it.

And we get to define her,

and that's a great freedom, I think.

- Let me ask... how about pay? - Oh, absolutely.

Mrs. Claus should have equal billing,

because then it's not even about negotiating,

it's just knowing to have...

It's courtesy and respect

in terms of, now we can set the tone.

One thing that I would like to see changed is,

I want to see pant suits thrown in there somewhere.

I'm just learning so much just by what everybody says.

It's like a potpourri of ideas and information.

It's like, "Wow."

I'm glad I didn't miss today's get-together.

All: Ho, ho, ho! Ho, ho, ho!

Ho, ho, ho!

Nice job. We're getting there.

We have a little presentation and some information

we want to share before we have lunch.

If you're a student of Dick Marshall's,

would you stand up, please?

Not yet. Not yet, Norm.

Not yet.

Today we're gonna recognize Dick.

Can we have a moment of silence

for Dick Marshall, please?

I just want you to think about us

when you're doing your stuff for this season.

And if there's something that bubbles up and you're thinking,

"Wow, this might be a really cool thing for those guys."

What do you want to do, Fin? Why don't you tell us?

I want to be a Santa in December parade.

That's not easy.

I mean, what happens is,

they get a Santa who's local,

and so he's there until he takes his last sleigh ride.

That's right.

- No, it's very territorial. - Yeah.

There's a little bit of competitiveness

around stuff, I've noticed.

Well...

I, literally, as his mom, was telling him,

"No, this is not going to happen.

You need to let go of this dream."

And he's like, "No, I'm not letting go of this dream."

What about my sleigh?

So you want to be in your sleigh

when you're in the parade.

- Oh, there's an idea. - Yes.

- Yeah. - That's a big yes. Okay.

It's a Portland Cutter.

It was built in the early 1900s.

You could say, "Well, we have a sleigh.

We have a flatbed."

Kind of put together almost, you know, packages

- that you can offer to people. - Oh, my God, okay.

Ho, ho, ho.

- Would you wave? - Let me see your queen's wave.

Big waves, both sides, Fin.

You need to work out every day during this.

All right, we're gonna start working out

your arms there, Santa.

Left side, right side.

Left side, right side.

Great gigs can be hard to get.

And if it doesn't happen, it's gonna suck.

It's gonna really suck.

So, Bob, you've got to tell your Christmas Eve story.

People are coming in and telling me what they want.

This one teenage girl comes up. She sat on my lap.

And I went, "Oh, my God."

They must have had a chili cook-off

the night before or something.

So who else has some stories to share?

So the story

actually starts a long time ago.

I wanted my daughter to grow up with representation

of our family.

So what I decided to do was to get

a Black Santa inflatable.

Last year I get a letter in the mail.

And the letter

is.

Right here.

"Please remove your Negro Santa Claus yard decoration.

"You should not try to deceive children

"into believing that I am a Negro.

"I am a Caucasian,

white man to you,

"and have been for the past 600 years.

"Your being jealous of my race

"is no excuse for your dishonesty.

"Besides that, you're making yourself a laughingstock

"of the neighborhood.

"Maybe you should move

"to a neighborhood with the rest of your race's kind.

Yours truly, Santa Claus."

And

it came with a picture

Santa Claus with a thumbs-down.

Oh, my God.

I brought this to do this here.

Yeah!

I'm gonna be the Santa

for kids that look like me in my area.

And coming here has given me the tools

to be able to do that to the best of my abilities.

And I'm so happy that I got to come

and spend this weekend in New England.

Welcome.

Who wants to follow that story?

- All right, everybody up. - Let's go.

I don't know the words.

Let's all teach him.

- All right, ready? - Ready?

Who do we start with?

- Dasher. - Okay.

And you got to shake the tail.

- Right, yeah. - There you go.

Next year I'm planning to come back

- and bring my wife with me. - Oh, neat.

She might as well go to Mrs. Claus school, too, so..,

- Yeah, my wife is there now. - Okay.

- Levi, step forward, sir. - Thank you.

- Thank you. - Ho, ho, ho!

Ho, ho, ho!

- Here's my card. - Thank you.

I love that. Awesome.

Give me a high five.

This has been a wonderful experience for me.

It has been. Thank you. Bye-bye.

Bye-bye. Come on.

So I hope you're going away with some good memories,

lots of information.

And make sure you grab a snowball on your way out

and take that home and put it up on your desk,

on your bedside,

or carry it with you when you go out and do gigs

and remember that all together

we've really created a special world here

and a special experience

that hopefully won't melt away.

We're fine.

Oh, my God.

This is Suki.

- Hey, Suki. - It's MK Monley calling.

MK Monley? Hello.

- Yeah. - Hey, from the lantern parade.

Yes. Yes. Hi.

Yeah, so I just wanted to let you know our team met,

and we would

love to have Fin participate.

Oh, my God!

Oh, my God! I'm, like...

- Yeah, so we'll... - Can I just tell Santa Fin?

Need to figure out logistics and...

Indeed.

You guys, this is MK Monley calling from Waterbury,

and you're gonna be in her beautiful.

Festival of Lights Parade this year.

- Oh, my God! - Whoo-hoo!

- Oh, my God, Fin Barre. - That's so exciting.

He is so excited.

I wish you could see him right now.

He's jumping up and down.

Oh, oh, okay, no. Be careful. Be careful.

He's actually jumping up and down.

Well, MK, we'll be in touch soon, okay?

- Okay, thanks. - All right. Thank you.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

- Bye-bye. - Okay, bye-bye.

Ho, ho, ho, ho.

- Yes! - Oh, my God.

Oh, Fin Barre, you're gonna be in a parade.

Need a little Santa dance.

Yeah.

I just didn't think they were gonna make space for us.

And I'm so grateful that she decided to.

So exciting!

He's got plain black boots on.

And then the boots are going to be completely black?

They'll be completely black,

but I will do some little accents

to make him kind of have a little shine.

No, it's great.

There's nothing like this for me to buy.

- That's right. - That is absolutely right.

So, after what happened last year,

I decided to go ahead and switch from inflatables

to having a real-life representation

of our family.

We are definitely sending a message here.

This is gonna be bigger, better, Blacker than last year.

To review saved messages, press 3.

I am calling you

about your Trans Santa event

on Thursday.

That is disgusting.

It makes you look like a pedophile.

Trans people have mental issues,

and they should not be around children.

You are disgusting that you are doing this.

It's Marxist. It's Communist.

It's a way to bring down our society.

It's a way to lure our children.

You are disgusting.

Just letting you know.

"Just letting you know."

There are currently over 300 responses.

About three months ago,

we decided to host an event

with Youth Outlook and Illinois Safe Space Alliance

for Trans Santa.

And this past week,

our church has been getting emails and phone calls,

Facebook messages, typical hate messages, right?

Here's one... "This church is inviting Trans Santa Claus"

"for children to interact and learn with.

"You should be ashamed that you bowed down

"to the woke, liberal minority in society.

All comment and post about this bull crap."

Yeah.

The Proud Boys did send a video

insinuating that they might show up

because of Trans Santa.

- How does that make you feel? - Afraid.

You know, we know now that The Proud Boys

played a big role in what happened on January 6th.

We don't know if they have weapons

or what they're capable of and what their desire is.

So, yeah, kind of scary.

So we're doing an event tonight.

I'm pretty excited about it.

I want to reach kids

that might need to ask Santa for something

that they couldn't ask regular Santa for.

I changed up my outfit.

Yeah.

Power suit needed to happen.

I'm not sure this is a power suit,

except for the fact that it's super empowering.

It's much more lounge wear.

Although it was marketed to be worn to work,

which I think is hilarious.

I did add the faux fur myself,

just to help Claus it up a little bit.

And then for fun,

we just assumed that the Clauses need corrective eye wear

'cause it feels a little bit classy.

There's been some positive and negative reactions.

Some people have been really affirming and sort of like,

"This should have been in place years ago.

Thank you for filling this need."

And other people reacted in fear.

This one.

"The Devil isn't even hiding anymore.

Disgusting."

Wow.

- I'm sorry. What? - Are you the Devil?

You do look very good in red.

- I do look good in red. I do. - Yeah.

I'm more scared for other people

than I am for myself, if that makes sense.

Like...

We really hope that people

still are able to come and be jolly

and not have to worry about

feeling unsafe.

Yeah.

Because of the threats that we received,

we felt like it was the safest for everybody to move venues.

We started looking

at hiring security for the event.

And the only people who know

where this event is happening tonight

are folks who registered for the event.

- We were pissed. - You know, we were mad.

Like, we didn't want to back down,

and we wanted to continue to host.

We had such a great space, but at the same time,

we're never gonna compromise the safety of people.

But it was also really frustrating.

And sometimes it feels like they won.

- Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.

Do you want to sit with us and have your photo taken?

I'm Trans Santa. Smile.

- Everyone be jolly! - Be jolly!

- Bye! - Merry Christmas.

- It was nice meeting you. - Thank you for coming.

Both: Bye.

You need to "ho, ho, ho" more.

Ho, ho, ho.

- Both: Hi. - What's your name?

- My name's Ally. - Ally.

- Pronouns? - They, them.

- They, them. All right. - I'm Trans Santa.

- I'm Dr. Claus. - It's nice to meet you.

- Hi. - It's nice to meet you, too.

Do you want to tell us what you want for Christmas?

- Oh, we got to do photos. - Oh, yeah. Photos, sorry.

I just always want to talk to people.

- Good, good. - Okay. Okay.

I want to be able to come out fully to my parents

and get a binder,

'cause the last time I asked, they weren't...

Like, they didn't really understand why.

And so I want to be able to tell them,

this year, like, fully,

and I want to ask them for Christmas, so

I know, like, when I got my first binder...

Yeah.

I was like... so

it changed me because it, like, empowered me

to have the body of the person that I wanted to be.

I hope to empower you in that step as much as possible.

It's very empowering being in your presence.

- Yeah. Aw, thank you. - Merry Christmas.

- Binder, it's gonna happen. - I can feel it.

- Yeah. - Yes.

Make it happen.

What is happening right now?

Hi, guys.

We came out tonight for the Tranny Santa Claus meetup

'cause me and a few sisters, we're like, "There's no way"

"that we're gonna allow this to happen

without coming and speaking the truth."

The enemy is not hiding, and neither can we.

So we have to be bold.

Oh.

Camera crew's here.

- Hey, how's it going? - Hi, it's going.

How are you today?

Wondering why you guys turned up here tonight.

We're Christians, and so we came out tonight

to just try to stand up for the children.

This is a ploy to steal, kill,

and destroy somebody's identity

at a pivotal point in history right now

where our country is going downhill,

when they're trying to roll in Communism and things like that.

We see Marxism, and we just see them

trying to disassemble our values.

The Holy Spirit told me that I should just come out

and, you know, represent the kingdom.

- Thanks, guys. - Thank you.

Yeah.

- Yeah, it really was. - It was?

- Yeah. - That was the Holy Ghost.

It was.

We will stand up for the Lord no matter what.

We do not care. We are the news.

We are the revolution. We are the children of God.

We are the remnant. We are the patriots!

You won't even let us watch what's going on?

Is this a secret?

We haven't threatened anyone, attacked anyone.

- We haven't done anything. - We're not leaving.

Yeah. We're not leaving.

- Are you the Proud Boys? - Yeah.

- Yeah, I'm a Proud Boy. - See our shirts, right?

- Can you read? - Sure, here, take it.

That's what we're about.

Proud Boys have never killed anybody, ever, ever.

This is at the heart

of the cultural problem in America today.

You guys moved the location, or there would have been more.

But there's gonna be more here soon.

We have a lot of people that live in Naperville,

so good luck.

It's okay.

Ho, ho, ho!

We are protesting the indoctrination of children.

- We're elves. - We're elves.

Yeah, we're Proud Boy elves, and we're protesting

the outsourcing of our jobs and our boss's.

This church is infected

with evil.

We don't even know what a transgender Santa Claus

looks like.

You know, if you Google it, this is what comes up...

A woman with a beard.

They're destroying Santa Claus.

And, really, the Bible that I read says that this is a sin.

Okay.

Santa's not in the Bible.

- Merry Christmas! - Merry Christmas!

- Hi. Welcome. - Hi.

- Jolly. - Say "jolly."

You're propagating division.

Even worse, you're propagating division

to children.

I think it's horrific.

Say "cookies." all: Cookies.

That's what the Proud Boys are... they're hate.

How did they find us? Like, we kept this a secret.

So I don't know how they got here.

And a little concerned.

What do you call a fear of Santa Claus?

Claus-trophobia.

- Oh! - Yes, that's a good one.

- I don't like Claus-trophobia. - We're gonna steal that one.

Thank you guys for coming out, yeah.

- Can I hug you or no? - Yeah, for sure.

Yeah. Both: Merry Christmas.

All right. Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas.

- Take care. - Yeah. Take care.

Yes.

The thing that camp definitely helped me grow in

was my confidence level.

So I decided to bleach my beard

and truly become Santa Claus.

Not too bad. Not too bad at all.

- Okay, I may need help, Chris. - Okay.

- Oh, yeah, that's my boy. - Yeah.

What do you think a certain person might think?

They're gonna hate it.

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised

if you didn't get another letter.

I love it. They're gonna go, "What the hell?"

Eh, honestly, they already despise my existence.

I'm on my property line.

You don't like it, you move.

What you think?

It's so cute. I love it.

We're here, we're Black, and we're proud of it.

And we ain't going nowhere.

I don't know where the fourth...

- It was just right here. - D-ring is.

When we heard what happened to Chris,

my first reaction was that I was really mad.

And then my second reaction was, "Where can I get one?"

- Take off. - Caroline, no, no, no, no.

- I do like this one better. - I do, too. It's bigger.

- Yeah. - It's better.

An update to a story

we shared with you last holiday season.

Neighbors are putting out their own Black Santa

to show their support.

They're calling them solidarity Santas.

Black Santas popping up everywhere.

- We need another rope. - No, look,

I've got one in back and one in front on the same rope.

On the same rope?

- Here we go. - Go.

So I showed her the copy of the letter, and she said...

Go get the biggest, Blackest Santa you can find.

I anticipate there'll be

a lot more going up over the weekend.

And I think people will go to work Monday morning

with most of this neighborhood covered in Black Santas.

Got a cider doughnut?

Oh, these are still hot.

I'll put you on top of the good-girl list.

Thank you.

To be a good Mrs. Claus, you have to have this talent,

have you, to be able to look a small child in the eye

and lie your pants off to 'em,

you know, take them to that crazy world where reindeer fly

and Santa goes up and down the chimney.

When their eyes are sparkling and their mouth is going...

"Ooh," you know you've got 'em.

You know that Santa's has got reindeer

up at the North Pole, right?

- Both: Yeah. - Well, do you know

that he also has a couple of unicorns?

- What? - He's got three.

And do you know that unicorns...

They lose their baby horn when they're about six,

and then they grow their big adult horn.

Come look at this.

This is a real unicorn horn.

If you touch it and make a wish, it may come true.

Do you have a wish?

Mrs. Claus, what would you say

to young girls about speaking up?

Absolutely.

You know how boys speak up all the time?

They're very loud and authoritative.

Well, young girls need to speak up

and say what's on their mind.

So that's why I spoke up to Santa and said,

"You know, I've been quiet all these years

"and being the good little wife, but now it's my turn.

See how you like sitting at home."

I've done my checklist.

- Okay. - I got my hat.

I got my cane. I got my candy cane.

I also checked with the management

to make sure that we have two Zambonis...

- Okay. - One for you, one for me...

- All right. - The same size.

As you know, Mrs. Claus, with coming up in the world...

Is she? Okay.

You know, Mrs. Claus is not the warm-up act for Santa.

- You know? - Yes, she is.

How about this? We all deserve respect, period.

I'm done.

Do we know where he went?

Where did he go?

- Respect. - We're here to have a good time.

- Yeah. - Not to piss Santa off,

'cause Santa's pissed off.

And you don't want Santa pissed off.

This shit of equal pay or equal rights...

You earn your rights in this world.

I don't care if you're male or female... you earn them.

Well.

Santa and Mrs. Claus...

It's a complicated relationship.

All Santas don't have a Mrs. Claus.

So, when I work with them,

they don't really know what to do with me.

Ooh.

Mrs. Claus is getting a little fan base,

which is very exciting.

It's pretty clear, Mrs. Claus is getting more respect.

We're getting more equal pay.

We're getting equal-size chairs, equal Zambonis.

All right, get me off the ice.

We're done. Move on.

We still have a long way to go,

but we've come a long way, baby.

- Does he have long johns on? - Yes.

We're gonna get you all Santa-fied.

Look at that belly.

Can you give me a "ho, ho, ho"?

Ho, ho, ho!

Can you see okay and everything?

Okay, dude.

All right. You're welcome.

I love you, too, honey.

Come on. Come stand up.

- You know what? - I'm really thankful

that you are thankful for me, okay?

I think it's going to be a lot of fun

walking down there.

It's going to be a lot, lot of, lot of fun.

- Thank you for coming. - Ready? One, two, three.

Go. Go, go, go.

How are you reindeer doing?

Okay, Fin, we're going around the corner now,

so you got to steer us the right way.

Here we go, Santa!

Yes!

Ho, ho, ho!

Santa! Santa! Santa!

Santa! Santa!

- It's so beautiful. - Oh, my God, I'm gonna cry.

It's, like, super emotional.

I'm just so happy.

Just all these people out to see him,

and I just didn't know it was possible.

Looking good, Santa.

There were doctors who said he'd never talk or do anything,

just be a vegetable.

But I think he's doing pretty good.

- He's up in the sleigh! - He's flying!

He's flying in his magical sleigh!

- Santa! - Look at him. Look at him.

Look how happy he is. Look how happy he is.

Oh, my God.

Whoo-hoo! Santa! Santa!

Santa! Santa! Santa!

- Santa Fin, we love you! - Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho.

Santa! Santa! Santa! Santa!

I'll put it back here.

Here we go.

Baby.

It does not smell good.

It smells just like a perm.

After camp, Chris definitely stepped up his game.

You could see the joy and the excitement.

The little kid inside of him was having a field day.

In a few hours, it's my first huge Santa gig.

Putting in a little bit of conditioner

to get this prime time ready.

And it was just comical 'cause it's watching

your 30-something-year-old husband now desire

to look like an older man.

My daughter is super proud of me for becoming Santa.

She tells all her friends.

She tells anybody, "My daddy's Santa."

Daddy.

This is my daddy.

It can't help but make you feel just huge.

Ah. Daddy fell under the tree.

I'm proud of the man that he has become.

His father, my mother, his grandfather,

all the people that have gone on,

they would be real proud of him.

- Is it? - Which is...

That's why you're Super Santa with the cape.

- All right, get ready. - Kids are coming.

Your first customers.

- Hey! - No. No, no, no!

No, it's okay.

Oh, come on, Lennox.

This will be a souvenir for Grandma.

Got to warm up. It's fine.

I have no idea how this is gonna turn out.

But I know that I have to do it.

People were

not necessarily enthusiastic about him coming,

I guess, is the best way to put it.

People were, like, genuinely confused, like,

"Why would you have a Black Santa?

Why would you... He's supposed to be white."

I can assume that probably some people didn't show up

because there was a Black Santa.

And

it's a little unfair, but it is how it is.

Maybe I don't look like every other Santa,

but I don't want to.

We came out today to meet Black Santa.

How are you doing?

Aw, thank you.

He may not understand it right now, but one day he will.

So I want him to experience that.

I just think it'll be a good memory for her,

see that her mom, like, really took the time out

to find a Black Santa.

Aw!

So precious.

She loves taking pictures, too.

Hey.

Hey, look at Grandma.

- I've... - both: Never seen a Black Santa.

- Well, I'm here. - Hey.

I just know I'm not on that naughty list,

- so that's all that matters. - Hi, Santa!

Hey.

Well, I mean, I hadn't either until I became Santa.

- All right, ho, ho to you. - Bro, ho, ho.

- Bro, ho, ho. - Yes.

- All right! - Bro, ho, ho.

When I was little, Santa was white.

It was whatever someone else decided Santa to be.

I heard that there was gonna be a Black Santa.

I decided, "We got to come here and see Black Santa."

- Hey. - Oh. Hey.

It's important that my grandson sees

that Santa can be someone that's African American.

There were families that traveled

over 300 miles to be here.

That was very rewarding.

Thank you so much.

But it definitely also gave me a bit of a sense of sadness

that there are not Black Santas closer to them.

Tonight I'll be doing what's called a "sneak and peek."

It's a Christmas Eve visit.

And Santa sneaks into the house,

the parents wake the children up,

and they get to come down and watch Santa

as he delivers the presents.

When I have a visit with a child

I want them to continue to believe in Santa.

I hear bells.

Who else can hear a bell?

Santa.

This is gonna be your new home.

It's not as cold here as the North Pole, but...

Mmm.

Chocolate chip, my favorite.

I think there's a creature stirring.

I think Santas, when they pass away...

They're... they're still here...

Three, two, one, cheese.

Because the memories that families have of them...

Say "cookies." all: Cookies.

Children have of them,

their friends have of them

are still there, and they continue to grow every year.

Santa! Santa! Santa!

I'm so proud of what the new Clauses have accomplished.

Ho, ho, ho, ho!

There's still a lot of work to be done

and in opening the door for more diversity.

But this year I think we made a lot of progress.

- What do you see over there? - Santa!

- Oh, my gosh. - Is he really brown?

Yeah.

If whoever wrote that letter truly has a problem

with Black Santas,

they're really gonna hate this.