“When we put on our costumes, we are Mother and Father Christmas,” assure Isabelle and Nicolas Van der Vaart. Since 2023, this Christmas couple worthy of a Hollywood film has been officiating, on weekends in December, in the streets of Saint-Brieuc, at the request of the Boutik'n Co merchants' association. Far from Santas with hairpieces of crosspiece falling on the sneakers, they attract amazed looks from young and old. An entire city fell under the spell of their neat costumes and their good-natured faces.
“Bringing magic and joy, even more in today’s period, for us, that means a lot”
It must be said that the gentleman, above all, has thirty years of experience in the vestments of Saint-Nicolas. In Oise, his home department, Nicolas was providing sales in a store when the director asked him to act as Santa Claus. “I accepted, then I went to see a seamstress friend, who made me this costume which I still wear, in fact. At the beginning, I worked with a false beard and a false stomach”… “And today, everything is real: the beard and the stomach! », concludes his wife Isabelle mischievously.
Make children's eyes shine
Nicolas was immediately won over by his new end-of-year “job”, working with children. For a time, he hired his teenage daughter to act as a “pixie” alongside him. “We even toured the cottages on the evening of December 24: we went to people’s homes to bring gifts.” Once she comes of age, the pixie wants to hang up. “So the gentleman asked me: he didn't want to do this alone. No sooner had I said yes than he had already ordered the costume! », Reports Madame Noël, then an executive at La Poste. “The first time, I saw the children's eyes light up, and sometimes those of the mothers cried when they saw us, it created so much emotion. Bringing magic and joy, even more so in today’s period, means a lot to us,” she confides.
That was ten years ago, and every year since then, the couple “can’t wait for December” to see people’s eyes shine again. Two years ago, after retiring from their “real” jobs, Isabelle and Nicolas Van der Vaart decided to settle in Lanrivain, in Central Brittany. “When I announced this to a store manager in Rouen where I had been doing Santa Claus for 23 years, he told me: your price will be ours, but you come back next year! », slips Santa. This weekend of December 21, with his wife, he returned to this store where he was photographed with “three generations” of customers.
At the top of their game
In any case, retirement in Brittany did not mean the end of activity for this ideal Christmas couple. On the contrary: with age, they are at the top of their art. Thanks to the children, who miss no detail. “The boots, the belt, the glasses: as they thought about it, I improved my outfit as much as possible,” reports the gentleman. “Me too, especially with the jewelry. The other day, I heard a child say to his mother: “look at her earrings: they’re the real Mother Christmas!” “, says Madame. Great reward.
Generous, the Noël couple certainly keeps the business going, willingly lending themselves to the game of photos so that the shops communicate. But he has principles, such as that of making a voluntary outing to the hospital every year: this was the case in the pediatric department of Yves-Le Foll, Tuesday December 17. Another principle: that the photos with them be free, so that all children have the right to them. “I’ve always fought for this. We are paid by the organizer,” underlines the gentleman.
They take up to 1,500 or more photos per weekend, like again on Sunday December 15 in Saint-Brieuc. “It's exhausting, we repeat the same things a lot, but we always try to keep the same smile, the same serenity, we always have a little word, even in busy times. And it’s going well: people are patient, and there is always someone in line to offer to take the photo…”. We call it the Christmas spirit.
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