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At a workshop in Berlin, Santa arrives to train a handful of apprentices how to act like him. “From out of the forest I appear, to proclaim that Christmastime is here!” he exclaims.

Santa — real name Tim Zander — wears a long, red robe and matching hat, and he pulls on his beard slowly as he recites a traditional poem. He then segues into pointers on how to channel one’s inner Santa.

“A really epic arrival is good, just like I just performed,” he tells a roomful of recruits, “complete with the bells, the ho-ho-ho, and a heavy knock on the door. But not so hard that you break it.” The applicants, one wearing a full Santa suit, sit around a conference table, taking notes.

Throughout Europe and North America, throngs of Santa impersonators like Zander have been busy preparing children for Christmas. But in Germany, the number of people willing to play Santa Claus has dropped precipitously, after a student union that traditionally supplied candidates stopped doing so last year out of a lack of interest among students. It was a code-red Santa emergency.

Ho Ho, Oh No! Germany Has A Santa Shortage

Photo: Rob Schmitz/NPR