Yes, Virginia . . .

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus.    –Francis Pharcellus Church

Reading your blogs has taught me so much. One thing I’ve learned lately is that decorating for Christmas is a passion. I knew this on a theoretical level before but, now, having read about and seen so many of your decorations around the world, I understand it in a much more fundamental way.

Even those of us who could only be described as cultural Christians—non-religious now but having been brought up in religious homes, with lots of Christmas memories—find joy at this time of year in bringing out the crèches and other Christmas treasures.

And, when we decorate, many of us seem to focus around collections of meaningful objects and feature them in our homes.

For me, I love Santa. So, even when we don’t do the full-blown decorating of a big tree and the whole house, we always bring out our main collection at Christmas—these Santas that line the mantle.

Our Santas have been coming to us for over 20 years and are primarily from the line of Great American Collectibles Old World Santas. These are carved and hand-painted resin figurines, made in the US. A few new ones are released every year and depict, mostly, folk art-style Santas from around the world.

The first one of these Santas that we received Mickey, an Irish Santa given to us by a friend after we went to Ireland on our honeymoon.

Mickey Claus, from Ireland

Mickey’s sweet treat

We liked Mickey’s look so much, we’ve brought many of his brothers home over the years.

Skip Claus, from Nova Scotia

Martin Claus, from the US

Wim Claus, from the Netherlands, and Gordie Claus, a Royal Canadian Mountie Santa

A gourd Santa, a rustic Santa, and Nickelson Claus

A garage sale Santa, James Claus from England and Pavel Claus from the Czech Republic

Many of the Santas have sweet animals with them, which adds enormously to their appeal for us.

Gordie’s polar bear

James Claus, from England, with his dog

Nickelson Claus and his penguins, from Antarctica

Zorba Claus and his cat, from Greece

Some of our Santas come from other places.

We have our Millennial Penn State Santa:

Penn State Santa

And our Santa from the American Folk Art Museum in New York City.

American Folk Art Museum Santa

And we have Santas from garage sales!

3 garage sale Santas

These Santas sleep patiently in storage for most of the year, waiting to come out at Christmas and remind us of all the good that Santa Claus symbolizes—love and generosity and devotion. I believe in Santa! Do you?

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