All over the country, the annual Christmas ritual for children looks and feels different this year.
Photographs and Text by Mark Makela
Mr. Makela is a freelance photojournalist based in Philadelphia.
Dec. 23, 2020
Credit.Mark Makela for The New York Times
Santa Claus is different this year. He wears a mask and his lap is mostly off limits. Outdoors he waves to boys and girls from a safe distance, and indoors a sheet of plexiglass separates him from his visitors.
“It’s odd to be segregated from them by the glass and harder to hear,” Roy Ohrberg said. Mr. Ohrberg is 65 and in his fifth year playing Santa. He had a mask custom-printed from a photograph of his smile and beard.