For 13 years that “something else” has been his work as a jack-of-all-trades at Santa’s Workshop in North Pole, New York, a place he visited as a child.

His official title at the workshop is artistic director, and in the time he’s worked at Santa’s Workshop, he’s had a hand along with a few others in conceiving ways to keep the magic of Christmas alive for children at the theme park. He’s helped design the signs on the Whiteface Veterans Memorial Highway, drafted plans for the park’s Village of Lights event and cared for the park’s reindeer.

Keeping up with the reindeer at Santa’s Workshop has taken up more of Peck’s time at the park than almost any other duty. James Fuller, the park’s director of operations, Peck and the park’s small staff tend to these reindeer.

“They are just like puppies almost,” Peck said. “They want the same attention. It’s the same attitude; you treat them nice they’ll treat you nice. They want to be around people, and they love coming to the reindeer barn. It’s their chance to kind of socialize.”

John Peck, artistic director at Santa’s Workshop in North Pole, New York, walks a reindeer named Rudolph around the North Pole at the theme park in Wilmington in December 2016. (Enterprise photo — Antonio Olivero)

The workshop’s caribou have bloodlines that go back decades with the park, though new bulls such as Comet are brought in intermittently to breed. During the holiday season, the animals spend afternoons inside the barn at the back of the park, just a short two-minute stroll from Santa’s house down the hill.

At night, the reindeer are brought out to a multi-acre pasture connected to the property. It’s up there where some of the park’s older animals such as mighty Yukon spend the majority of their time, now too big to be brought down to the barn to interact with children. Yukon has grown out of his role at 600 pounds, compared to 300-pound Rudolph.

Yukon’s antlers are also much bigger than the current crop of Santa’s reindeer like Rudolph. His massive antlers have already shed for the season after beginning to grow last spring, sometimes as much as one or two inches a day during the summer.

“Say you went out of town and you didn’t see them for a week and you came back, you’d be like, ‘Wow!'” Fuller said.

Rudolph’s rack is small for the reindeer at the farm, and his will likely shed by the end of winter.

A family walks away from Santa’s House and through the Village of Lights event at Santa’s Workshop in North Pole, New York after visiting with Santa Claus on Tuesday. (Enterprise photo — Antonio Olivero)

No matter a reindeer’s age, though, come Christmas season when the snow starts to fall, the animal becomes much more energetic.

“They like to forage really,” Fuller said, “You will see them galloping and playing, it’s pretty funny when you go up there and see them start to jump. They are chasing each other around or doing these awkward little jump kicks, it’s like a gallop, I can’t explain it. But when you see them it’s excitement coming from them.

Fuller said each reindeer has its own personality. Rudolph is more than 2 years old, and he has what Peck described as a more calming personality than many of the other reindeer, perfect for when he has to accompany Santa Claus throughout the park.

Fuller’s favorite reindeer is Blitzen thanks to his energy, and he said Prancer has a tendency to sometimes be a bit jealous.

“If you bring in maple leaves for them to eat as soon as you go to feed another reindeer she’ll start kicking the door really wanting to tell you, ‘Hey, come back, give me more,” Fuller said. “She’ll paw ya.”

The animals eat a specialized feed heavy on alfalfa, and the workshop has its own dietician and veterinarian specifically for the animals.

As many as five new reindeer a year are born at the workshop’s pasture, including two new ones born this year, Dancer and Vixen, each sporting small spikes in time for their first Christmas.

With all the time Fuller and Peck put in at the park, living the holiday each day is worth it as they work as diligently as the do-it-all elves behind North Pole’s magic.

“In the end,” Fuller said, “when you can stand back and watch the kids being part of being of it all at the North Pole, I mean, this is what it’s all about.”