Tis’ the season for jolly SP resident Gillette, a.k.a. Santa Claus
December 23, 2016
By Robert Cantu
Santa Paula News
Tis’ the season for Santa Paula resident David Gillette, who has turned a resemblance to a famous — perhaps the world’s most famous — character into a holiday gig.
Gillette, whose height is several inches North of six feet, has spent the season being Santa Claus, a job he has relished for about a decade.
Almost like a larger version of the Cinderella story, for Gillette it started with a suit.
“What really happened was my son-in-law and daughter got some Halloween costumes that were really great from a friend of theirs in Santa Paula who’s a tailor. I had been watching my beard,” yes children, the beard is real, “turn completely white, and I asked them if he could make a Santa uniform.
“He sized me up,” and when the job was accomplished Gillette found himself wearing, “an incredibly good suit, amazing,” suitable for all climates in-and-outdoors, a suit made even nicer when his son-in-law gifted Gillette with it.
The tradition of gifting came with the suit and Santa, err, Gillette, was on his jolly way.
He has played Santa for friends, school (Mrs. Claus who travels with him incognito in civilian clothes is Renaissance School Principal Robin Gillette), kids, and for seniors and nonprofits, appearances made for free in the spirit of Christmas.
“But I did get some jobs and when offered I accepted the money,” for commercial appearances, said Gillette, who after all has a lot of Santa overhead such as reindeer feed and sleigh polishing in his annual budget.
He’s always ready to appear: “Amazingly,” he noted, “I’ve gotten pretty good at getting ready. I’d say at the last minute with travel time off of course I can be ready to go in 20 minutes, walking out the door all dressed,” and ready to “Ho-ho-ho!”
His favorite part of the job naturally is “The kids…that’s what I like most is doing it for the kids.”
And it doesn’t have to be in uniform: one time on a family summer vacation at Lake Tahoe Gillette found himself in an elevator with another vacationing family.
A little boy was sneaking “Oh my gosh is that SANTA?” looks at Gillette: “I wasn’t wearing my suit of course, but maybe I had a red shirt on and the boy’s mother whispered in my ear that his name was Anthony.”
So of course Gillette greeted the little boy by name for some Santa chitchat.
“He was dumbstruck as they walked off the elevator,” and Gillette heard the boy tell his parents in awe, “Santa takes his vacation in Tahoe!”
Younger children can sometimes leave Santa feeling like he’s a few nuts short of a fruitcake.
“Two-year olds — they cry and scream,” said Gillette, the secret shame of Santa’s everyway (or rather, wherever Santa goes).
“And, for some reason, if they’re under two years old they really notice. Sometimes they do and cry but other times they’re fine and won’t. But the two-year-olds are almost guaranteed to cry,” which calls for a request for parents to hold their child, which usually calms them down enough for a photo.
And speaking of photos Gillette said he has posed for a nurse who helped care for his daughters at the hospital where his daughters had their children.
“She’s also a professional photographer,” and he has posed professionally for her for kiddie Christmas shots for several years now. He also made an appearance at a Ventura ceramics store where he and children made their handprints.
Do kids pull Santa’s beard? “Sometimes if they look at it strangely — there are so many fake ones out there — so if they look curious about it I give it a yank,” smart move Santa, “and say ‘it’s me!’ ”
When asked if he Believes in Santa Claus you could hear the astonishment in Gillette’s voice: “Of course! How could it be any other way?”
