Published on: December 19, 2025 at 11:30 am
By Eileen Smith
When work is defined as a calling, such as a religious ministry, art, acting, or medicine, it’s typically thought of as an all-consuming passion.
But work that has meaning doesn’t have to be a full-time career. Just ask professional Santas, whose sleighs pull up at shopping malls, social centers, and public spaces on Black Friday and return to the North Pole on Christmas Eve.
“You’re not just representing yourself. You’re representing a cultural icon that embodies love, hope, and joy,” said Academy of Management Scholar Christina Hymer of the University of Tennessee’s Haslam College of Business. “Increasingly, people are looking for meaning within their work.
“However, meaningful work can exist in places and occupations that you might not initially expect.”
Hymer and co-authors Bethany S. Cockburn of Northern Illinois University and Borbala “Bori” Csillag of Oregon State University studied Santas to gain insights into role prototypes and worker callings. They discovered Black, LGBTQ+, and female Santas, which Hymer said offers proof that individuals don’t have to meet a prototype to fulfill their callings.
Santas and other dedicated gig workers often tailor their callings to fit into other aspects of their lives that also are meaningful. There are roughly 8,000 professional Santas across the United States ho-ho-hoing, asking children what they want for Christmas, and encouraging them to be nice, not naughty. That number doesn’t include the people dressing up as Santa in other countries around the world. Many of them feel fulfilled by the work.
Said one Santa Claus: “If you robbed a bank, Santa would come see you in prison. He wouldn’t bring you a present, because it’s naughty to rob a bank, but he wouldn’t be judgmental about it.”
Like poets who struggle to make ends meet, Santas often make financial sacrifices while following their calling. Hymer noted that some Santas spend more on their red suits and fur-trimmed caps than they earn asking good girls and boys what gifts they want to find in their stocking and under the tree.
As one Santa said, “It’s not about the money. It’s about making people believe.”
