It was 7:30 a.m.

Tammy Thornton watched as five vehicles stopped outside her home in South Venice. She was expecting the Burnett Painting team, but stepping out of the company van was Santa, aka Steve Burnett, wearing his Christmas headgear and a red T-shirt and sporting a beautiful, long, white beard. Out of the other vehicles came Santa’s elves, Steve Henderson, Bo Bishop, Fabrice Hamouda, Gary Ploof and Jim Hickey, wearing green T-shirts and carrying brushes and paint.