At a salon in Rockville, Maryland, as a beautician carefully combed bleach through his beard and eyebrows, John Parks sat with the patience of a saint — St. Nicholas, to be exact. Parks was halfway through his annual transition from black-haired information-technology specialist to white-whiskered Santa Claus.
"It's a little bit shocking every November," said his wife, Nelly, 45, watching as her 40-year-old husband morphed into a centuries-old Christmas icon. "This isn't what I bargained for when I married younger."
But she knows the kiddies want their Santas with snowy beards. And she appreciates the extra $4,000 to $6,000 that Parks will pocket in appearances over the next several weekends. Mostly, she understands how much he enjoys getting his Kringle on.