Jeff Liotard made a list and checked it twice to make sure he could pull off his latest gig.

“I knew I had a lot of work to do to get it right,” said Liotard before his debut last holiday season as the jolly old guy in the red suit occupying the big chair in the Manteca Rotary Club’s downtown Santa Hut.

So Liotard dropped by the Manteca Walmart where he spent more than three hours studying every toy and doll he could find on the shelves.

He then pulled an all-nighter going over six modern Christmas movies centered around Santa such as the “Christmas Chronicles” on Netflix as well as Tim Allen’s “Santa Clause” movie.

Such an immersion into everything a kid today is exposed to regarding Santa allows Liotard to nail the answer when boys and girls make inquiries about things such as who is his favorite reindeer.

The answer as anyone who has seen the “Christmas Chronicles” can attest to is Comet given the reindeer shares a love for candy canes with Santa. And if a kid asks him whether reindeers are male or female, Liotard has the answer. His research showed they have to be male reindeers given females keep their antlers in the winter while males shed them.

“I’ve got to know my stuff when kids ask for things or ask me questions,” Liotard said. “I don’t do anything halfway.”

He also has watched every available Santa tutorial video on YouTube. Liotard plans to up his game even more by enrolling in one of three Santa schools in the country after the holiday season ends.
Liotard is in his second year as playing Santa. He is at the downtown Santa Hut on the corner of Yosemite Avenue and Main Street on four more dates. They are today and Friday from 3 to 7 p.m. as well as Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 6 p.m.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, Liotard isn’t your typical Santa. Not only is he well-schooled in everything Santa but he’s gregarious, animated, and is anything but a conveyor belt Santa who has a kid sit on his lap, give him his wish list, snap a photo, and that’s it.

Liotard just doesn’t do the standard Santa photo op either. As an example, he’ll have kids that want to, stand on his oversized chair, then both he and the kid will go back to back, cross their arms and do the “attitude shot.”

Liotard goes all out to play Santa to the hilt.

As an example, he wants to make sure the only “skin” anyone sees is his face. That means he wears three pairs of gloves. The first pair is black and covers his hand. Next is the first white pair that he uses for photo shoots with pets that run the gamut from dogs and cats to fish and birds. To reach that pair he peels off the top pair of white gloves that are reserved for children.

How Liotard became Santa started with a trip to Guatemala where he participated in an ongoing Manteca Rotary international service project led by fellow club member Fred Stellhorn to provide eye glasses to those in need. It was there he let his beard grow.

By the time he returned home he had a nice goatee going.

Then he dropped in on a weekly Manteca Chamber of Commerce coffee. It was there that several women teased him for looking like Santa Claus. At first it irked him. But then he got to thinking — why not?

Downtown was looking for a replacement Santa. The Manteca Rotary had already taken over the Santa Hut and spruced it up even further. Liotard decided to play Santa.

At first Mrs. Santa — aka Tevani Liotard who is a Manteca Unified teacher and Jeff’s partner in ownership of several Mountain Mike’s Pizza restaurants — wasn’t thrilled with the whiskers as they scratched whenever he gave her a peck on the cheek.

But it grew on her. She has even joined Liotard as Mrs. Claus. She was on the Manteca Fire engine along with Santa for the Manteca Christmas parade.

For the record, Santa’s favorite food is “ooey gooey chocolate chip cookies served with Vitamin D milk.”

“That’s not soy milk or almond milk,” Liotard emphasized. “That’s Vitamin D milk. I want to keep my dairy farmer friends happy.”

It is also good advertisement for almond growers Liotard said with a   twinkle in his eye as drinking almond milk would cause him to lose weight.

His grandkids call him Poppa Santa.

“I tell them they’ve got to keep it a secret from their friends that I’m Santa,” Liotard said.

How good is Liotard as Santa?

A couple that is into Christmas big time want to renew their vows in a ceremony next holiday season in the Santa Hut with Liotard officiating.

Liotard said he is thinking about becoming an ordained minister so he can grant them their wish of being married by Santa.

Liotard said portraying Santa is up his alley.

Liotard prior to morphing into Santa orchestrated the 10th annual Manteca Rotary community Thanksgiving dinner that served over 2,700 meals.

“I don’t like to receive gifts,” he said. “I like giving to people. I have everything I need.”

The Rotary offers high quality photos with Santa at $8 apiece or two for $15.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com