Santa's Winter Home

A friend of mine had told me about this house (for those here, it's on Biddex-Evans; you have to go!). In October, this was, "The Spooky House." This month, the boys yell, "There's the Christmas House!" Little did we know, that they actually give tours! Every weekend during December, this couple sits on their front porch, dressed at Mr. and Mrs. Claus. They flag people down and open their home to tours. It is amazing! Not only are they decked to the max outside, the inside has over twenty themed trees, and is so well-done. We cracked up, because right as we exited the van, Grant jumped out, pointed at them, and yelled, "HEY! We just saw you guys at the BASE!"

Here they are, waiting on the porch for us!
Meeting Santa and Mrs. Claus Mary wasn't so sure... Mrs. Claus began the tour by telling the boys, "In this house, we love Jesus. So, you will find a nativity scene in every room!" She even had 3-D type glasses for them to try on, that made each point of light into a cross. They thought that was pretty neat. The Mardi Gras themed bathroom (gotta have one of those in this part of the country!)
The doll and tea room (Mom - this was right up your alley. I'm surprised you don't have a doll tree!)

Mary and Daddy
The doll tree
So cute! She brought the boys into the bathroom and had them look at Santa on the top of the lid. He was winking. Then she had them lift it up - they got a kick out of Santa not wanting to see anyone go potty! She said that her little elves like that too (her grand-elves!). Mrs. Claus had answers for everything too. At one point, her dog was barking from behind a door. Grant said, "What's that?" She said, "Why, that's my barking reindeer!" Both the boys' eyes lit up and mouths dropped. Just then, Mary piped up with, "Pup-pup, pup-pup-py!" (her latest word) and started "panting" like a dog! She had two large themed trees in the kitchen and lots of tiny, lit villages. The kids liked to just look at those...
Mrs. Claus seemed to know kids well (she has to, right?). She was explaining the story of one of her trees to me when Ivan was asking her when we could have the treats... She finally said, "YES... enough of the trees... we are BOYS! Now where are those cookies?!" She brought out four platters of cookies and cream puffs, hot chocolate with candy cane stirrers, and eggnog. My goodness... we were in awe of how much they put into this and they didn't charge a penny. Think the boys look ready to eat?
Santa came in to chat with us while we munched treats on the kitchen floor. Outside of their home, they had this really pretty and large nativity. I like the lit-up palm trees. You just don't see Christmas palm trees where I'm from. : )
They didn't accept any donations, but I sneaked in with the boys the next day with a little coffee gift card for Mr. and Mrs. Santa. Ivan and Grant were just happy to get another chance to see the man in the red suit! Grant handed him the card, and Santa said, "Boy, I'm not gonna forget you!" Ivan jumped in and said, "And me too!"

I think this couple brought back a little magic for Ivan. The last time we saw Santa and Mrs. Claus, "They kinda reminded him of Grandpa and Grandma!" I think he might have known the truth, but who would want to admit that?!