Mrs. Claus

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Behind every man is a strong woman.

The wife of Santa Claus in many stories. She's often portrayed as a kind, elderly matron who helps her husband and the elves in various ways, whether it's cooking delicious meals (possibly the stated reason why Santa is so fat), or even helping supervise the toy factory.

Her origins are as varied as those of her husband, but regardless of how she begins, she usually ends up as a Granny Classic.

Her outfit is typically a red and white version of the classic granny dress. Sometimes the red is replaced with green, to complement her husband's outfit, and complete the Christmas theme. Rarely will she ever wear a "Happy Holidays" Dress, and especially not a Sexy Santa Dress (unless she is crossed with Grandma, What Massive Hotness You Have!). Still, ladies who are merely dressing as Mrs. Claus will often wear those dresses when paired with a guy dressed as Santa, especially a Mall Santa.

Compare Cool Old Lady, Fairy Godmother.

Examples of Mrs. Claus include:

Comic Books

  • Mrs. Kringle from Jingle Belle is a notable exception from the Granny Classic archetype (something which is occasionally lampshaded in the comic). She's a Hot Mom elf queen who prefers aristocratic garments to aprons.


Film - Animated

  • Imelda Staunton plays the role in Arthur Christmas as a hyper-competent organizer who handles the political end of the Santa Claus operation(she mentions a "treaty with Greenland").


Film — Live Action


Live-Action TV


Music


Newspaper Comics

  • In one arc on Peanuts, Sally thinks that Santa Claus is a Mrs. Claus, named Samantha Claus. Charlie Brown teases Sally at one point, asking, "Does Samantha Claus say 'Ho, ho, ho," or does she just smile daintily?"
    • In another arc Sally decides she wants to write to Mrs. Claus instead of Santa, and Charlie Brown says that he thinks her name is "Mary Christmas." Sally is intrigued.

Congratulations on deciding to keep your own name.


Other

  • In the Christmas parade at Disneyland, Mrs. Claus is in charge of the mail room where the letters to Santa come in.
  • In the Deep 7 role-playing game "Santa's Soldiers," Mrs. Claus is the grandmotherly-appearing and very deadly head of the the paramilitary elf branch. No one knows her true story, no one wants to ask. And should you cross her, she will "kick your jingly elf ass from one end of the workshop to the other."


Radio


Video Games

  • Mrs. Claus is summonable item in both Scribblenauts games. While she doesn't give out presents like her husband, during the level in the first game where you have to "return the favor to Santa" (by giving him something he likes as a gift), she is a solution. D'aww.
  • The Holiday packs for The Sims 2 has a Mrs. Claus dress that is trimmed with white fur, thus is decorated enough to count as a "Happy Holidays" Dress.


Webcomics

  • Appears in Sluggy Freelance. She takes over from Santa when he's infected by alien DNA, including battling Bun-Bun with twin Uzis. She is also taken hostage by Bun-Bun during the Holiday Wars arc, and eventually helps trick him into using the Deus Egg Machina.


Western Animation

  • In the action cartoon Super Santa (from Nickelodeon's Oh Yeah Cartoons series), the super-powered Santa was paired with Emma Claus, named after Emma Peel of The Avengers, who wore a Spy Catsuit under her more typical matronly robes.
  • She's a vampire in The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy.
    • The Head Head Vampire, to be exact. She tends to turn her husband into a vampire periodically. He's quite good-natured about it.
  • In the Show Within a Show KISS Saves Santa, seen in the first Christmas Episode of Family Guy, Mrs. Claus is seen dispensing kindly advice to KISS before they go rescue Santa from pterodactyls.
  • Played by Betty White in the Prep and Landing spin-off short "Operation: Secret Santa".
  • Mrs. Claus is briefly seen in the background at one point in The Nightmare Before Christmas. Even though she's visible for a few seconds at best, the animators still had to trim her ears out of fear that it looked like Santa had married an elf.
  • In the Alvin and The Chipmunks Christmas Special, Alvin has given away his prized "Golden Echo Harmonica" to a sick boy, and now needs to raise money for a replacement, so he can play it at Carnegie Hall. He fails, and is moping at the department store when a kindly old lady who is "very far from home" buys it for him, in exchange for a song. The last scene reveals that she was actually Mrs. Claus.
  • In the special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, she is a fussy, vaguely European dark-haired woman who urges Santa to eat ("whoever heard of a skinny Santa?!"), and who criticizes him for not appreciating the elves' singing.
  • She's the star of The Year Without a Santa Claus (or at least the First-Person Peripheral Narrator), a special where she's trying to help her husband get motivated. She's also the one who takes Iggy, Jingle and Jangle to see Snow Miser and Heat Miser.
    • Delta Burke played her in the 2006 Live Action Adaptation. In a callback to Santa Claus is Comin' to Town, Santa calls her "Jess" at one point.
  • She's actually given an origin in Santa Claus is Comin' to Town, one of the few specials that portrays Santa as a young man. Named Jessica, she's a strict Schoolmarm who initially supports Burgermeister Meisterburger's ban on toys, but quickly defrosts when Kris presents her with the china doll that she always wanted as a child. When he, the Kringles and the Winter Warlock are imprisoned she breaks them out (empowering the flying reindeer in the process) and goes on the run with them.

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