Santa Claus: the men behind the beard

Étienne Paré
Rene Blain a few minutes before starting his shift

Étienne Paré

Sunday, December 10, 2017 06:00

UPDATE
Sunday, December 10, 2017 09:26

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Not looking for more, the true Father Christmas is called Rene Blain. Its North pole: the Place Rosemère. Well seated on his throne, somewhere between the Zara and the Dynamite, he hears the grievances of the children of the world.

Good, can be more those of the North Shore of Montreal, but it remains that René does not simply just donning the red suit and white for pocketing a cheque ; he lives in the mythical character. “For the holiday season, Rene Blain no longer exists. This is me the real Father Christmas. This is not a job, it’s a passion”, he reiterates, the smile full of innocence.

Be “the real Father Christmas”, it is much more than a promise of gifts, sighing some “HoHoHo” through. It requires compassion, listening, but also of the spread. No, children do not ask for all the new artifact of The snow queen or the Lego blocks of the year.

“One day, a little girl asked me to heal her friend of cancer. I had to tell him that I couldn’t do anything for her friend. I took the time to chat a little with her, comfort her, tell her to think about it. It is also a Father Christmas,” insisted René.

The new priests

And there is not that small that seat on his lap. Every year, people of voting age also came to be entrusted to René. “They speak to me of their separation, their cancer, their money problems… They know that I can’t do anything, but it’s good. It was nice to have 2 or 92 years old, at Christmas, we are all children.”

Situations not always immediately obvious, but for which the Fathers Christmas of shopping centres in the greater Montreal region, are formed at the beginning of each season. The men behind the beard must also provide a police report to prove that they do not have a criminal record.

Predestined to be the Father Christmas

No doubt, Rene has the head of the employment. “I already have the template”, rigole-t-he patting the belly. René was also the beard. A long beard that he dyed, as were his horses, in white for the occasion. “It should be that nothing appears. The children ask a lot of questions. I have to do everything for what they believe in.”

Étienne Paré

Rene Blain on his throne to the Place Rosemère

It has good voice. Serious, soft and comforting, it is perfect to calm children sometimes frightened cry in his arms.

René, who has retired from the world of education 10 years ago, knows this: it has the twist with the little ones. “I’ve always loved children. To be the Father Christmas, you don’t have the choice anyway. Even when there is a long queue, and that the parents are getting impatient, you need to stay calm and remember that the important thing is the child. When you’re with him, it will take the time it will take, regardless of the number of people waiting.”

The weight of the costume

Louis Paquette is not what they call in the middle of a santa Claus with real beard”. In “his kingdom”, the Carrefour Laval, Louis is wearing a wig. “It’s hot in there, but I’m not even into account. There are always children. It goes super fast,” he says, completely awestruck by the magic of Christmas.

Étienne Paré

Louis Paquette in her dressing room

To such an extent that it comes to forget the strong smell of urine that permeates his pants at the end of the day. “What do you want? It rest of the children!”, he replies, his eyes still as bright as the home of the Fir-tree with balls.

And then the gleam in his eyes abruptly. They fill with water when it tells you take a photo with a dying mother and her child last year. “She was dressed very classy. I wondered why, and then I heard her say to her husband, who took the photo, that everything had to be perfect because this would be the last memory that the small would have with his mother. When he finished, I said to someone in the queue to take all three in a photo with me”, recalls Louis, the throat.

A few times, René has also had trouble staying in his character. Children also unfortunate that The Little Girl with the matches or even more left to themselves as Kevin McCallister in Mom, I missed the plane, he has seen a few of them for six years.

Last year, two small girls came to see him to whisper in your ear that their mother-in-law was not nice with them, that she wanted to place them in family home to be alone with their father. “At the time, you just want to go see the woman, who was just next door, to ask him what’s his damned problem, but you can’t. You always have to remind you that you’re just the Father Christmas”, growls René.

Children first

Him and Louis have to agree: no excuse, it is not good that santa turns into a Grinch. “A Father Christmas, it is never angry. We must always be smiling. We are here to put joy in the hearts of the children.”

It should not become the bogeyman. “Often, there are parents who want to be chicane for the child to make him fear, but we don’t. Our only bosses, it is the child,” says René.

Louis, him, flinch once at the request of a parent. “As a child gave me his list of gifts, his father made me sign nothing, promise him because he had not enough money to buy this year. When the boy was finished, I told him that the important thing was to have a father who loves him.”

“A father’s love”, Louis understands that, who has two children and four grandchildren. In a few days, they too will come to see “Father Christmas.” “It makes me a little nervous. I’m afraid they recognize me. I would like so much not that they will stop believing because of me!”

There should be nothing to fear. The true Father Christmas, it is also him. It is, in fact, all of these men who wear the costume and carry on the magic.