Jonathan Buford has already made his own list, and probably checked it twice.

But it’s a good thing the nearly 52-year-old Hoover man is thorough this holiday season. It’s his first foray as Santa Claus, complete with the traditional suit and bushy white beard.

“Since this is my first year, I have been intentional about taking things slow and focusing on quality,” said Buford, a resident of the Bluff Park neighborhood, hence the moniker, “Santa on the Bluff.”

“It is very important to me to do the best that I can with each assignment and provide the best experience for people who meet Santa,” he said.

Buford joins a growing nationwide booming business of Kris Kringles, a jolly group of mostly 60-plus-year-old men who have seen bookings surge since the pandemic. According to HireSanta.com, a Santa placement agency that conducted a nationwide survey of over 1,200 Santa Clauses, the percentage of people reaching out to their website to have a Santa at their event is up a whopping 168% over pre-pandemic levels, and 34.6% higher than last year.

Santa bookings, according to the website, are up 152% year over year.

“Yes, it’s going to be a busy year,” said Steve Rusk, past president with the Cotton State Santas, an Alabama-based affiliate of the International Brotherhood of Real Bearded Santas (IRBRS). The IRBRS is the world’s largest organization of professional Santas, Mrs. Clauses and supporting spouses.

Rusk, who goes by Santa Ruskie, has been booked solid with photo shoots and appearances at Sam’s Club stores since Halloween. He is booked solid through December, despite admitting to “cutting back my season a little bit.”

Rusk, of Mt. Olive, is also mentoring two new Santa Clauses including Buford.

“Jon came to be about a year and a half ago and talked about wanting to do it, and then came back in January and he said, ‘I’m ready to do it,’” Rusk said. “He went to a school or two and did just that. I asked him, ‘How much work do you want?’”

Buford said he spent the first nine months of 2023 learning as much as he could, and that included a Santa-training one weekend in February and a Santa School he attended in Atlanta.

“I have been welcomed into the Santa community and the more experienced Santas have been generous to share their knowledge,” said Buford, who has taken jobs in Jefferson, Shelby, Bibb, Tuscaloosa and St. Clair counties so far, and who plans to stay within a 60-mile radius.

There is a lot of work to go around, according to HireSanta.com. There are over 1,739 jobs for full-season Santas, elves and other holiday entertainer jobs this year that are still currently open across the industry. Adding to the already high demand is a record number of small and medium-size businesses using Santa to associate their brands with Christmas, the website states.

And unlike in previous years, no one is worried about COVID-19. Three years ago, Santa and Mrs. Claus were relegated to doing mostly virtual visits. HireSanta anticipates virtual visit demand to be at or below 2019 pre-pandemic levels.

Alan Patrick, the River Region Santa known as “Santa Alan,” said HireSanta and other placement agencies have reached out to him “two or three times already this year” about filling in for bookings. Last year, Patrick said he did not receive any inquiries from the groups.

“In each case, I was already booked but was able to refer other local Santas,” Patrick said. “In speaking with other Alabama Santas, I would agree that there seem to be more requests this year than in the previous few.”

Cotton State Santas have a strong membership of about 200 or so Santa and Mrs. Clauses, but the state isn’t the Santa standard in the U.S. HireSanta, through its survey, lists at least 10 other states that are larger than Alabama as among the top states for having the most Santa Clauses. Texas is No. 1, where 15.1% of all Santas come from, followed by California with 7.5% at No. 2. Florida, Georgia, and Missouri are three Southern states that are within the Top 10.