Because Santa Claus is so busy this time of year, he often enlists people to help him. And in the spirit of the season, that means donning the suit Santa has made so famous.

Santa and Mrs. Claus — known to some as Dale and Trish Parris — are a match made in the North Pole.

When Santa Claus first appeared at Parris’s daughter’s elementary school in Stafford, Va., 12 years ago, it seemed out of character.

‘‘I thought, I’m a Marine, not a jolly little elf,” he said.

But Parris’s sparkling eyes and rosy cheeks seemed to qualify him to help the big man himself. He eventually agreed, and his wife, Trish — also a former Marine — helped Mrs. Claus. She sewed the couple’s outfits, but was careful to work at night while their young daughter was asleep, and hid the telltale red and white fur-lined suits before she woke up in the morning. The two began making appearances in the area.

‘‘Then, it kind of snowballed,” said Mrs. Claus, who is known to some as Trish Parris, at Cabin John mall on Dec. 2. ‘‘Literally.”

The ‘‘sleigh phone” — or cell phone — and ‘‘toy shop” — landline — are now staples for the couple who found a sleigh to grace the front yard of their ‘‘summer” home in Stafford. Their winter home?

‘‘The North Pole, of course,” Mrs. Claus said.

But Mrs. Claus has her share of issues with Santa — just like any couple.

‘‘I have to nail him to get him to trim it,” she said of her husband’s signature beard.

The beard makes the man, they say, and as far as the holiday goes, Parris’s qualifies him for the Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas. The group allows men, who know the man, to network and swap answers to some tough questions they are commonly confronted with, such as ‘‘Where are all the reindeer?” Mr. and Mrs. Claus say.

They tell kids the reindeer ‘‘only leave the North Pole on Christmas Eve, and are resting up for the big day.”

After 30 years as Santa, Kensington resident Mickey Reilly, 70, knows children are happy to see him, even if he can’t see them.

‘‘I’ve been legally blind since birth,” said Reilly, who rides a fire truck in the Alexandria, Va., holiday parade each year. ‘‘Now I can’t even see off the top of the fire truck,” he said. ‘‘[Firefighters] help me get on top of the truck, and I get up there and wave, ring the bell. I used to be able to see the kids, but I hear them well enough.”

Reilly first fell in love with Christmas as a student at the Maryland School for the Blind in Frederick, when Santa came with presents — bow ties for the boys and perfume for the girls.

‘‘I really get a charge out of it,” Kensington’s Santa said, especially when children and parents notice his bright white boots and gloves.

Reilly said the boots are mukluks made from polar bear hide and gloves from a white squirrel after a successful hunt in Alaska in the 1970s.

‘‘All the kids say that’s the real Santa because look at the boots!”

Firefighters at Kensington have a long tradition of helping bring Santa to the Montgomery enclave.

This year, Kensington firefighter and resident George Bonelli helped at the town’s tree-lighting ceremony on Sunday and in the next couple of weeks, residents may see Santa atop a fire truck handing out candy canes and treats.

‘‘It’s part of what this department does to show the gratitude that we have for the community, to help that community atmosphere and reach out to people,” he said.

‘‘Safety Santa,” who is also known to some as Buck Young of Adamstown, winds his way through town on a fire engine, and hands out pamphlets and information on fire safety.

That’s because Young is the chairman of the Fire Prevention Committee at Carol Manor Volunteer Fire Co. in Adamstown. Dressed as the head elf, Young has been making rounds on his fire truck through Adamstown and in surrounding areas in Montgomery County for about 15 years.

Safety Santa will stop by Potomac Village on his fire truck on Sunday.

While he may use his time with children to teach about fire safety, the visits are ‘‘all about the kids,” he said.

Safety Santa is smart, especially when children ask why he is on a fire truck.

‘‘I tell them we’re getting the sleigh all fixed up for Christmas,” he said.