DAVIS COUNTY—In the holiday classic, “Miracle on 34th Street”, Edmund Gwenn’s Kris Kringle is hired by Macy’s department store and quickly begins redirecting Christmas back to a mindset of giving, rather than getting. Throughout the course of the film, Kringle wins over Maureen O’Hara’s Doris Walker, and her daughter Susan (Natalie Wood), and helps them feel the true spirit of the holiday. All over Davis County, several Santa Clauses are endeavoring to do that same thing.

What inspires someone to be Santa Claus, though? What does it take to grow out the beard, don the suit and hat, and dedicate that much time and effort to an endeavor? For three Santa Clauses that operate here in Davis, the answers varied in certain ways, but, there were common threads that united them all, including that each started their journey around 20 years ago.

For Santa Matty, his Santa story began when his beard grew in, “much more white than I expected” in the year 2000. It wasn’t long after that, that someone bought him a red hat with a white fur pom and trim, and “the magic just happened.” After being recognized all over as Kris Kringle, Santa Matty went in for a sort of screen test at Gardner Village, and felt immediately that “I’ve been preparing for (this) my whole life.”

The magic happened as soon as he met the first child brought to talk with Santa, who just happened to share his name. “I’m not Matty,” he thought, “I’m Santa Claus. It was a magical moment.” From there, Santa Matty only got more and more busy, and he wasn’t the only one. The more Santas that he met, the more he realized how busy they each were, which led to the creation of utahsantas.com. 

One of the first to join Santa Matty on utahsantas.com, Santa Eric found himself starting out as a Santa around the same time, 20 years ago, though he’d had a beard for years at that point, “I grew a beard before beards were cool.” For Santa Eric, becoming Father Christmas “kind of grew organically,” as he started doing events for friends and family. Like Santa Matty, Santa Eric says the role is magical, “(It’s) one of the greatest things I’ve ever done.”

It’s a sentiment that is echoed not only by Santa Eric and Santa Matty but by Santa Travis as well. Asked by his daughter to play Santa for their newborn granddaughter around 20 years ago, Santa Travis has been playing the Jolly Old Elf ever since. He’s been playing Santa not only at parties and gatherings of all kinds but in movies as well, including one that’s slated to be released very soon, but his favorite, and the favorite of the other Santas as well, is being with the kids, “(It’s) the best feeling you can get anywhere.”

It’s a favorite for each Santa really, as they all mentioned how their favorite part of the role is “watching kids’ faces when they look at you,” in the words of Santa Eric, “When you put on that red suit, everything changes.” “It’s a calling,” echoed Santa Matty, “the rewards of bringing joy and happiness (is) beyond anything I could imagine.” However, being Santa isn’t all just milk and cookies. There can be some tricky elements as well.

One such challenge is thinking on your feet when unique requests are made by the kiddos each year. While each Santa does his best to research and prepare, sometimes kids ask for things that are just out of left field. With kids asking for things like typewriters, duct tape, and what one child called a “curly phone” (a corded house phone), it really could be anything. Santa Travis however, shared one of the more emotionally challenging aspects.

He shared how, often, kids will ask Santa to help bring runaway pets back home, or, for children of military families, to bring mom or dad back home from overseas. It’s a difficult request to have an answer for, but, each Santa does their best to keep the magic of Christmas alive for those kids, no matter the request. With the joy and warmth that each shared with each personal story, it’s difficult not to believe. 

Interacting with kids, adults, and even pets at times can be a draining job, but, as Santa Eric put it, “The suit is a sacred calling,” and one that each Santa does not take lightly. When asked what each of them hoped people would take away from their interactions with Saint Nicholas this year, there were common themes, but each Santa had his own unique response.

For Santa Matty, he hoped, “Whether they believe in Santa Claus or Christmas, they realize that Christmas is a time of love, forgiving, and giving.” For Santa Travis, that people would, “be a little bit kinder to other people, to actually want to give rather than receive,” and finally, for Santa Eric, “I would hope they walk away with a belief that there is good in the world, and there is magic, but we (people in general), make the magic.”

It’s a fantastic service that each of these men renders in Davis County and one that dozens of others like them offer around the state, the nation, and the world. It would be well worth the time of Davis County residents to go and pay them a visit, wherever they may be. It may do everyone some good to remember the joy and magic of the season the way that each of these Santas does. And who knows? Maybe one of them is the real Kris Kringle in their own way after all.