Michael Raftery has been taking photos with animals in a jolly red suit for almost 20 years. He started at the young age of 26 when he was on the SPCA board of directors.
He was at the shelter to volunteer while the organization did its annual pet photos with Santa, but Santa didn't show up. As the only guy volunteering, he was given the red suit.
"I said 'there's no way I'm going to be able to pull this off,'" he explained. "It was this old, sort of rattier, you know somebody's grandfather's suit. So anyway, I put it on and managed to fumble my way through it and pulled it off." He said the children only see what they've pictured in their imagination and usually that's Santa with the gorgeous red suit, big white beard and a twinkle in his eye.
After doing the photos for the SPCA for a couple of years, Raftery wanted to get a nicer suit. He worked at the plywood plant in town and asked his general manager if he would be willing to pitch in some money to go towards it.
"A week and a half later I get called back to the general manager's office," he said. "And the entire suit: beard glasses, the whole setup was there. Whether he paid for it, whether the company, I don't know." He said he has a feeling the general manager paid for it himself.
From then on he had a nice new suit he could wear to take photos. Over the years it's been patched and replaced with Raftery and his wife working on it as needed.
He has tricks for wearing the suit, which only takes him about 10 minutes to get suited up in. The glasses are always kept on the bridge of Santa's nose, not right up on his eyes.
"I have a lipstick that I kept (with the suit) year after year that my mother gave me to do the cheeks," he explained the lipstick is quick to put on and perfectly gives Santa his rosy cheeks.
He also wears work boots underneath the Santa boot covers rather than running shoes just in case someone catches a glimpse beneath them. He used to have big, hot lights on him and would have to wear shorts and a T-shirt otherwise he'd overheat very quickly under the heat of the lights.
"Another trick, you never shave the day before you're gonna go put that beard on because otherwise it is itchy as hell," he joked.
When the SPCA stopped doing the animal photos, Raftery moved on to another organization who would use the Santa photos as a chance to help animals.
"I did it for the SPCA until they stopped doing it, and then I started doing it for Crooked Leg Ranch when they took it over 10 or 15 years ago," Raftery explained.
In his time he's taken photos with all sorts of critters.
"The coolest one was a wolf. Somebody had somehow ended up domesticating this huge white wolf that they brought in one of the earlier days," he said. The wolf was large enough that it was up to Raftery's waist. "To be able to spend time with a wolf and handle it, hold it and pet it and not be eaten by it. It was great. That was a thrill for me." The wolf was a very friendly animal and Raftery said he was told it was basically just a big lap dog.
He's also taken photos with a goldfish, small snakes, horses, a pigeon along with many cats, dogs and children.
The children are one of the best parts of being Santa for Raftery.
"You have no idea the power of Santa Claus until you are Santa Claus," he said. "He's the mystical person that's been around forever that can make it all the way around the world in 24 hours and they could spend five minutes with him." He explained nobody else gets to see the way a child's eyes brighten and the grin that comes over their face as they walk towards him.
He explained that there's no other figure quite like Santa for children.
"I'm the fairy tale character that you can touch, talk to and meet. You're never gonna meet a unicorn, unless you go to Disney Land you're never going to meet a garden fairy or Tinkerbell or the Easter Bunny where you get a chance to interact and actually talk to him, it's never going to really happen," he explained. "I'm the mystical character you can actually spend time with and that is wonderful for the kids that they still have that."
One person who came to see Raftery each year was named Evan, his mother explained to Raftery that Evan will never mentally get above age five. For a decade Evan went to see Raftery around the holidays and he knew everything about the North Pole.
"You could tell he had it all out in his mind. He wanted to know if Mrs. Claus was okay, he wanted to know how the elves were doing," Raftery said. Evan kept coming for a decade and his family kept the Christmas magic of Santa Claus alive for him. "He was probably around 24 at that point before the family moved away and it was the same questions. The only difference is as he got bigger, he could lift me up off the ground and swing me around."
Raftery always made sure he had extra time to talk to Evan.
"That always was a hard one to not tear up or at least let him see me tear because it always got to me because I was always waiting for him and I knew what it meant to him," he said. Eventually the dog that came in with Evan passed away and the family brought a new dog with them to see Santa. "I remember whispering to it 'oh you have no idea how big a set of paws you have to fill little one,' because the dog was his world. It was his dog and he took care of it."
One year Evan's family got Raftery a fridge magnet that had one of the photos of Evan and Santa on it.
He's also had the chance to watch a couple start and grow a family.
"They came there on their first date, the following year they were engaged. Then they're married the next year and then here she comes and she's pregnant," he said. "I guess the first date worked out going to Santa."
Crooked Leg Ranch uses the funds from the photos with Santa to support its animal sanctuary animals, help education and community programs that will support people who have challenges taking care of their pets.
