By Joseph Robertia
Photos by Joseph Robertia, Redoubt Reporter. Rocky Laster, dressed as Santa, listens to what 4-year old Jordin Berzanske, of Kasilof, wants for Christmas. Laster entertained children for several hours last Saturday as part of the holiday festivities at the Kasilof Mercantile.
Redoubt Reporter
Perhaps it was as a child, or it was bringing a child or grandchild as part of a holiday tradition, but it’s likely that most folks have spent time on Santa’s knee, whispering in his ear what they’d like to see under the tree Christmas morning.
It’s much more challenging to have a bright red coat, big black boots, a bushy white beard and a belly like a bowl full of jelly — either stuffed with a pillow or developed naturally— than it is to simply don a smile and smile for the camera.
It takes a lot of work to transform from a regular guy into Father Christmas, as Rocky Laster learned this year. Laster, owner of Rocky’s Café in Kasilof, dressed as Santa at the Kasilof Mercantile over weekend to bring a helping of seasonal cheer to his community.
“When the holidays get close, you always get behind, so I started getting ready for this last January,” Laster said.
The first part of the process was finding a suit to wear. Laster said he thought this would be as simple as a few clicks of his computer’s mouse, but as he typed “Santa suits” into his search engine, he found there were a lot more options than he ever dreamed.
“There were at least 30 different sites that popped up, from santasuit.com, and a bunch in between. There were thousands of different suit options, and some of them that were really plush, and with all the belts and loops, and bells and whistles, they were pretty spendy. I had to surf the Web for hours to find a good one, but one I could afford,” he said.
Laster finally found a good suit at a fair price of $300. It was a traditional red outfit, with white trim around the neck and cuffs. He also got a thick black belt, knee-high boots and some old-timey, bifocal-looking glasses to complete the costume.
Eager to try out the gear, Laster dressed as Santa for the Mercantile’s Christmas party about a week before the scheduled community event was to be held.
“I wanted to do a dry run with it on, and I was glad I did. I figured out pretty quickly how fast you get hot in that thing. I have no idea how Santas in the Lower 48 do it every day for weeks. I had it on for 20 minutes and I was roasting and feeling all scratchy,” he said. “After that I decided (the community event) wouldn’t be all day. Instead, it would be for about three hours and by an open window.”
The pilot run in the Santa suit also gave Laster the opportunity to decide what to do about his facial hair. He has a long
Destiny Laster applies white shoe polish to Rocky’s beard to give it a more authentic Santa appearance.
bushy beard, but it is brown. He wanted to go with a more traditional look, but his options were limited. A fake white beard wouldn’t fit over his real whiskers, and since Laster competes periodically in the World Beard and Moustache Competition, shaving was not an option.
“I still compete, so I wanted to protect it. I didn’t want to dye it or do anything else that could damage the hair,” he said.
While mulling his options in a local department store, he bumped into a woman who had done makeup for movies, and she gave him a recommendation on how to lighten the color of his beard without harming it.
“She recommended using white liquid shoe polish,” he said. “It has a real authentic look and supposedly it washes right out, so it seemed like it would be a better option than using hair dye. My only concern was, I have so much beard, would it soak all that stuff up?”
Laster’s wife, Destiny, liberally applied the white liquid, and within an hour he appeared to have aged decades.
While the polish was a success, another problem presented itself. The Lasters have two small children, 2-year-old Ruby and 4-year-old Alaska, and they both believe in Santa, not aware that the big guy from the North Pole often recruits helpers around Christmas. When they walked in on Laster putting on his costume, he had to come up with a quick excuse to explain to his startled children what was going on.
“I told them I had been subcontracted by the real Santa to do this, to help him out, because he is so busy right now, he
While the real Santa favors riding around on a sled pulled by reindeer, his Kasilof counterpart arrived by snowmachine.
can’t be everywhere,” he said.
His older daughter seemed to accept this explanation, but the younger one — her cognitive abilities still developing — couldn’t quite make the mental leap. As Laster transformed from her father into Father Christmas, she shied away and refused to make eye contact.
“She’s still not too sure about this whole thing,” he said.
Other than the blip with his own offspring, the community event went well. Laster rode in on a snowmachine, ho-ho-hoing to the crowd. Once inside — and positioned by an open window — dozens of children sat on his lap, told them their toy requests, and posed for pictures.
Every child received a wrapped present and some sweet treats, such as hot cocoa or eggnog-flavored ice cream.
Laster stayed cool and wasn’t any worse for wear. He said he looks forward to playing Santa again in the future.
“Now that I’ve got the suit, I hope to do this for many more Christmases to come,” he said.
The Kasilof Fraternal Order of Eagles, behind Jersey Subs on North Cohoe Loop Road, will have a visit from Santa, Mrs. Claus and elves from 5 to 7 p.m. Dec. 21. Kids can decorate cookies, roast hot dogs and make S’mores, and gifts will be given to kids coming to see Santa. The Eagles also gave 10 holiday food baskets to those in the community. The event is free and open to the public. Call Jenni Walker at 740-0039 for more information.
