old St. Nick.
The pay’s pretty good, $15 an hour according to one fledgling St. Nick — that is, if you’ve grown your own beard.
But ask another long-time Santa and he’ll tell you that playing the big man in red is not about money, it’s about magic, about achieving a special connection with each child you meet, and about preserving the hopeful meaning of Christmas the whole year through.
At the grand age of 84, Stuart Freeman of Chepachet has been charming children and parents alike for the last 16 Christmas seasons at the Lincoln Mall.
It’s no mere job, or joke, to Freeman, who several years ago not only changed his license plate to “SCLAUS” at the urging of a Registry worker but for eight years has hosted a genuine Santa’s Workshop on weekends at his 200-year-old farmhouse, with the loving blessing of his wife who is none other than the “real” Mrs. Claus.
An employee of Cherry Hill Photo of New Jersey, which the mall contracted to run its Santa operation, Freeman started playing Santa part time but very quickly warmed to the role, not only moving directly to full-time but ultimately becoming Lincoln Mall’s top Santa, taking center stage this year in its series of holiday ads.
“I’ve been asked to go to other malls,” said Freeman, who as senior Santa can pick his own schedule. “But I said no. This is my mall. The mothers and kids, everybody knows where I am.”In fact, Freeman’s become such a seasonal fixture at Lincoln Mall that some mothers “would take their kids out of school” to ensure they got to see him, which prompted Freeman to change his hours to afternoons so that no child’s schoolwork would be disrupted.
“We have three of the best Santas in New England right in this mall,” Freeman proclaimed, as Santa cohort Ron Pennington, a retired Woonsocket police detective, strolled into the dressing room, ready to turn over the daily gauntlet to the man who is known by everyone as the Lincoln Mall’s “Real Santa.”
“It hasn’t changed me. I’ve always been this way,” Freeman said of his stature. “There’s a lot of Santas around, but to be a good Santa, you have to have it in your heart.”Truth be told, Freeman’s Santa is less jolly than he is kind, less ho, ho, ho than he is prone to providing each child his sweet, and absolute attention.
“I have been here so long, the people come to me,” Freeman said, agreeing that in a tight labor market, there’s an even greater need for Santa Clauses, especially diligent ones, who like him are amenable to dealing with a childish spectrum of emotions that range between pathos and joy.
Some of the stories would knock your heart out, he said, like the fifth-graders from Massachusetts who were stripped of their Santa Claus beliefs by an uncompassionate teacher.
Still, his years as Santa have been kind, Freeman said, declining an offer for hot coffee. “I don’t dare,” he said, since as Santa he doesn’t take breaks for such amenities as going to the bathroom. “Once I go on the set, I don’t come off.”In truth, Freeman said, once he dons his cherry suit and his glossy black boots, “I am Santa,” and his certainty about the matter is enough to calm any skeptical or scared little one.”I get right down with them,” he continued, his face amazingly pink and unlined after all these years, his manner gentle but statesmanlike, capable of prodding virtually any child to sit willingly on his lap.Unfortunately, of course, once they get to a certain age, even long-time devotees start questioning the existence of Santa.
And once a child steps out onto that edge, “I can have them one more year,” although Freeman said he makes sure to remind children that once they stop believing there’ll be one less present for them under their holiday trees.
Besides his Santa work at Lincoln Mall, Freeman appears at various parties for children, especially those to benefit disabled children or those with special needs.
This year he and Mrs. Claus, at the bequest of the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council, graced the council’s first-ever Polar Express, making two sold-out cruises on a recent weekend, with more than 120 children receiving a special lap visit with Santa during each 90-minute trip. His backyard Santa’s Workshop is a small, 10-by-12-foot space, with a toasty fireplace and festive Christmas tree, bedecked with candy canes that Freeman dispenses as ornaments to young visitors.
He keeps his long, snowy beard all year long, and all year long “the kids come to me,” December or July, “it makes no difference,” Freeman said.He does no advertising, it’s all word-of-mouth, and many who come are families who first met him at Lincoln Mall, who come with their cameras seeking a little extra assurance that yes, this special Santa Claus is really all he seems to be.
Mothers frequently tell Freeman about Santas at other malls, some of whom “just sit there,” Freeman sniffed, as the children are plopped into their laps.
“Some of the other Santas have got too big an ego,” Freeman said, frowning.
But to really be Santa, “you have to have dedication,” Freeman said. “You have to have love for the kids.”At his workshop (and on appearances such as Polar Express) Freeman keeps a basket for donations, and he gives all the money to Camp HOPE (Helping Other’s Pain End) in Glocester, for children with cancer. “We’ve sent them over $1,200 in the last two years,” he said. There’s a sign at his workshop that says simply, “Yes, I Am,” and sometimes on road trips Freeman and Mrs. Claus have brought the sign with them, and with their “SCLAUS” license plate, has prompted passersby, including state troopers, to slow down and wave.
“Most people pull gray hair out of their beards,” Freeman said, chuckling. “I pull black ones.”
