Ho-ho-hold on....are you on mute?
With the coronavirus pandemic in full swing, parents are having to get crafty if they want their kids to tell Santa what they want for Christmas.
Now, instead of vying for mall Santas behind plexiglass, parents are hooking up their Zoom accounts for a call to the bearded wonder himself and, in some cases, Mrs. Claus as well.
Don White and Mary Rogers are two Santa and Mrs. Claus actors that have traded in-person Claus rendezvous with Zoom calls to children, giving families a safer option if they want their kids to have a visit with Santa, CNN reports.
While many Santas are positioning themselves behind plexiglass barriers in public spaces or even in snow globes in some cases, many actors are creating the Santa experience virtually.
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White has even revealed that his Zoom calls are resulting in big pay days. "We're expecting to triple or quadruple our income this season," White reveals. "We went from not thinking we'd be busy at all this year to being busier than ever."
"We started earlier, before Thanksgiving, too. Parents are desperate to find entertainment and something for their kids to do," he continued.
White and Rogers, who met on Match.com 13 years ago, have gone around Kansas City in the past making visits to local restaurants, museums, fundraisers, and events as Mr. and Mrs. Claus.
Now, they're getting online about four to six times an hour for visits with children who wants to say their piece to Santa. They work for up to nine hours a day speaking with children across the country - all launched from their website VisitFromtheClauses.com.
"We're busier because we're not spending time going to different places, getting dressed or setting up," Rogers said. "We just run back and forth from the bedroom to the dining room."
And in some ways, the video chat option for meeting with Santa is actually better than the in-person visits. "We usually see the back of a kid's head when they're on our lap, but now we can look into their eyes and know their interests, pets, and who they are," said White.
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