Here are a few things you may not know about Santa and Mrs. Claus: They live in Westport, not the North Pole. They drive a car, not a sleigh. And they're retired school teachers, 31 years married.

This is an off year for the couple, who away from Christmasland answer to Fernando and Maryann Goulart. With the holiday two days away, their December has been the slowest in years, due to a kidney transplant Santa had in 2019, and the realities of living in the Covid-19 pandemic. But Santa said he hopes normal life will return next year, and he and the missus will be able to dust off their costumes and spread joy during the 2022 holiday season.

"I feel bad about it, but in the long run that's what we have to do," Goulart (Santa) said Friday. "Hopefully things will change and we'll get some sort of normalcy next year."

Pickings have been slim this year for the people who normally hire Santa and Mrs. Claus impersonators like the Goularts, who have been at it for about a decade. With public gatherings non-existent last year and curtailed this year, the number of impersonators, many of whom are older and need to be careful having close contact with unvaccinated children, is not what it once a few years ago.

This year, Fernando said he's received at least 70 requests from area residents who want to hire him and his wife. But on his doctor's recommendation, he's turned down most of them, except for one: A volunteer appearance at the Westport tree lighting ceremony held three weeks ago at the Westport Land Conservation Trust.

It's not usually that way. In a normal year, the Goularts will travel up and down the Farm Coast and into suburban Rhode Island and the Fall River and Rehoboth areas, entertaining hundreds kids and adults each season. They got started after Mrs. Goulart, a volunteer at the Fall River Historical Society, started dressing as Mrs. Claus for Christmas functions, and came home one day and asked her husband to dress up too.

"So we went out and got a suit," he said. "It went very well. I enjoyed the rapport with the parents and the kids."

The next year, people who had seen them the previous Christmas asked if they'd consider visiting their homes. Mr. Goulart had a custom suit made, and they were off. Requests increased after they started advertising online.

"Before I knew it I was getting requests from all over," he said.

Though they usually do a few commercial/corporate events per season, the Goularts stick mostly to homes and private parties. The job isn't as easy as showing up and ho ho ho-ing, Goulart said:

"We have a whole program where we read Christmas stories, sing to the kids, tell stories about the North Pole and things like that. Kids have a million questions, which keeps you on your toes."

Questions can sometimes be incredibly hard.

One year, "I had a little girl, seven or eight, on my lap. She leaned over and said, 'My brother's very sick. He's got cancer and I don't want him to die.' My eyes were full of tears," he said. "What do you say? I wasn't prepared for that. But that's the type of thing you have to be ready for."

Most other times, though, are joyous. Goulart recalls asking if any seniors wanted to sit on his lap during a visit to the Dartmouth Senior Center one year.

"A 90-year-old plus lady says, 'Darn right, I want to sit on Santa's lap. I haven't done this since I was five!"

Though they won't stay at it forever, the Goularts hope to attend more events next year, if the Covid situation gets under control. Longer-term, they're trying to find friends who might want to take over the reins once they hang up their suits.

"You've gotta really love doing it, or otherwise it's not going to come out right," Goulart said. For him, it's not just bringing smiles to faces. Spending quality time with Maryann has been just as important.

"We're doing this for fun," he said. "We like being together and sharing something that's fun for both of us."