Off-Duty Santa Billy Joe James
Pardon me for asking, but are you Santa Claus? Yes. My name is Billy Joe James. I live in Woodinville. I Santa for Arthur & Associates Photography. This is my twelfth year. [He’s carving Santa Claus Christmas tree ornaments from the wood of a western red alder tree.] I started carving these about 34 years ago. I grew my beard to see if I could look like what I was carving. Nine months later, I was working as a Santa.
You looked in the mirror and said, “Wow, I look like Santa”? Something like that [laughs]. Art French of Arthur & Associates was a photographer and journalist for the P-I. He was the first photographer ever to start taking commemorative Santa pictures, in 1942…
