A DAD earns up to £5,000 a month working as a professional Santa – and even grows his own beard.
Sheldon Scott said he had an “epiphany to bring Father Christmas to life” in 2009.
Now he wears his red suit all year round and receives thousands of letters from kids.
So dedicated is Sheldon to his act, he gets his own beard bleached white at his daughter’s hair salon.
The 48-year-old, from Essex, has also hired his son Sam, nine, as his helper elf.
The pair have at least 30 events scheduled between now and Christmas Day.
Sheldon said: “Everybody who knows me all know me as Santa now; everybody just calls me Santa – it’s become my identity.
“You could do something during the year because some people do a new event called Christmas In July where some people get married and they might want a Santa Claus there, but you never know.
“Summertime Santa is massive in America and I can get asked to visit their events.”
Sheldon says that he has received countless messages and emails from people all over the world wanting to meet him. His favourite aspect of his job is meeting children from all backgrounds and putting smiles on their faces.
“The best thing is the children; it is really emotional, people don’t realise when you do this job seriously it is very emotionally stressful,” he said.
“You see disabled children, special needs children and even just everyday children; they run up to you and hug you.
“I had one little girl say, ‘oh Santa you’re my best friend’, you’re everything to them in that moment in time and that is just incredible.
“They write me letters; every single letter I get from a child, I keep every year in a shoebox. I would never ever throw them away.”
