Santa Visits through the Years

Organizing my external hard drive filled with 7 years worth of photographs has encouraged me to create another "through the years" blog. This one is of visits with Santa. In most cases, the visit was with the true Santa, as agreed upon by my friend, Heidi.

2002

I was a new mom to a 7-month old baby. I thought the only place to see Santa was at the mall. Fortunately the line was not very long.

2003

When Ashley was a year old we stumbled upon Santa while touring Kuser Mansion in Hamilton, NJ. It took us a couple of years to discover the pattern and to make it a habit to see him.

2004

Looking back I must have been crazy, but at the time it seemed sane. Ashley and I went into NYC with Debbi and Christopher to see the Christmas decorations, and take a picture with Santa at Macy's Santaland. It was an ambitious day with two small kids and mass transit.

2005

We had a nice visit with Santa at Hershey Park the year Ashley was 3.

2006

When Ashley was 4 we returned to to Kuser Mansion to visit Santa. Over the years we've been able to have long chats with Santa.

2007

When Ashley was 5 we took her to Kale's Nursery, a local florist, to see "the best Santa," according to an acquaintance. He was closer to home, and was available more hours, but he was not the true Santa.

2008

Back to Kuser Mansion to see the true Santa. Ashley and Baby, her doll, dressed like Santa for the picture.

My mom's other grandchildren could not make it to Kuser to meet Santa, so we met up at Marketfair Mall instead. Ashley was in first grade, but I was homeschooling her that year, so our schedule was flexible. We were the first ones at the mall. While waiting, a photographer from the US 1 Newspaper asked if Ashley was afraid of Santa. I said no. He asked Ashley and Santa to do a small photo shoot together. It was on the cover of the US 1 newspaper the following week.

2009

When Ashley was 7 years old, she asked Santa for a pair of spats. From here on out, Santa calls Ashley "Spats." 

2010

8-year old Ashley showing Santa the spats he brought her the year before. She then asked him for a sewing machine.

2011

At 9 Ashley asked Santa for a bearded dragon. Yeah, right, like that stands a chance of happening! There is no way I was going to allow a reptile to live in our house. 

2012

This year 10-year old Ashley brought Sandy Claws to meet Santa Claus.







2013 

Visiting Santa a Desiree Daniels annual open house. They asked about Sandy.

2014 

Back at Desiree Daniel's Open House. They asked again about Sandy. He has been pooping too much to take him out in public. This year our 12 year old asked for a trip to Europe. Amazing how the ante keeps getting upped.

2015

Back to Desiree Daniel's house again for a quick sneak visit before dashing to school to be aged 60 years from 13 to mid-70s to turn into Scrooge. Santa noted she has grown again. Ashley has been too busy to think about what she wants for Christmas this year. Does this mean Santa gets off easy this year?

2016

For the first time I did not take a picture of just Ashley with Santa. A sign the times are changing and that I was more excited to see Santa than she was? Heidi also started a new tradition -- she invited Santa to her holiday party. We also saw him at Desiree Daniels' house (timed well so we arrived at a lull). For the second year in a row, Ashley didn't tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas. 

2017

It is so nice having Santa living back in New Jersey again! This year Santa had a regular gig at Kale's Nursery in Lawrenceville. We also saw him at the Heidi's caroling party.

2018 

Two trips to see Santa at Kale's because the first time I forgot to take a picture of Ashley alone with Santa. So out of habit. So glad he is close. Ashley knit the cap she is wearing. We caught him quickly at Heidi's caroling party. Santa was very busy this year, but always makes time for those on his "Good List." 

Merry Christmas!

2019

We are entering a new stage. with Ashley working retail, seeing Santa was a bit of a challenge. Kale's was out because they had similar hours. We did find one evening at Kuser Mansion, but nearly missed it because we thought he was there until 9 (it was really 8) and we stopped for dinner after WiNK church service. We did it, and the tradition continued. With Ashley going to college next year, we'll see what happens.

2020

We popped in to see Santa at Kale's Nursery over Thanksgiving weekend because it is 2020 and who knows what will happen! Dr. Fauci said Santa cannot get Coronavirus, but there is always the chance non-essential businesses will be forced to close again. Santa sat back a few feet from us on his throne. We sat on the white bench in front of him. We wore masks when talking to him. We were told we could take them off for the picture, meanwhile he wore a clear plastic face guard as protection. A strange year to say the least.

2021

We are slowly making progress towards life two years ago. Because Santa knew we are fully vaccinated (including boosters) we were allowed to visit up close and even sit on his lap (well, Ashley did). We brought Yoran, our Belgian exchange student, with us. Santa eyed him up and said this year he gets a handshake. If he comes back next year, he gets a hug like the rest of us. We tried to explain he'll be back in Belgium by next Christmas -- no, he is not her boyfriend! This was the picture that made our Christmas card. Funny, no one asked about him. To be fair, we did mention him on the back when we talked about our news for the year.

2022

We returned to Kales for our annual Christmas photo over Thanksgiving weekend. I suppose Ashley finally graduated from being told to sit on Santa's lap.

2023

When Santa tapped his knee and asked Ashley to sit there, I felt he was asking her to model a Santa Visit for the growing line of little ones at Kale's Nursey. Last year we thought she graduated from sitting on Santa's knee, but we were mistaken. Santa is very busy, by the end of the weekend he had already seen over 1,000 children. 

2024

A new twist: adding Anna to our annual Santa photo. Kale's Nursery closed. Within days of the announcement, Carroll's Tree Farm, another Lawrenceville nursery asked him to be with them this year. He greets guests in a tiny stone building near the street. With the space heater, it is very cozy. Given the space, the next family has to wait outside, making it very private. 

Don and I went to see him at Kuser Mansion a week later for old time's sake. That line was nearly 45-minutes long. The kids played while the adults waited patiently. The mild weather helped -- a lot! The cold snap had broken, and the rains had not yet come.