Holiday Leftovers:

For our holiday edition of the Beacon, I spent a few hours with Santa... Whitefish Santa to be more specific. Basically the story goes like this:

At the age of 50, Clifford Lee became Santa Claus.

Of course, with his annual white winter beard and jolly temperament, his grandkids had always assumed he was Santa. And his brother had long encouraged him to officially take on the role.

Lee, who lives in Whitefish, was reluctant. Growing a beard to keep his face warm in the winter was one thing. Dressing up in a bright red Santa suit and entertaining large groups of hyper kids was quite another...

Read the rest of "Becoming Santa" by Myers Reece here.

Lee had some great anecdotes about being approached by kids while wandering around in his civilian cloths or wagging a finger at children acting out while shopping with their parents. I made the portrait in his home in Whitefish.