Santa Arrives TWICE as Brothers In Law Fit the Bill

Now that the little ones in our family believe in Santa the real fun begins! My brother in law Layne (Whitney's husband) played Santa for our niece's pre school class. Layne was invited to hand out gifts at the Wood River Pre School and he graciously accepted the task.Here is Layne assisted by my husband getting dressed...this was a wonderful suit and very realistic...

On with the big fluffy very curly beard....
White gloves complete the outfit....

Doesn't Layne have the best Santa "eyes"!!!!!

Santa in all his finest...fur topped boots, gloves, big black belt and a crop of curly white hair topped with a red hat finished off with a big white pompom!!!!! My husband delivered "Santa" to the school via a Chrysler Town and Country mini van....

Santa arrives...ringing bells
Posing next to the school's Christmas tree....

Everyone is waiting and anxious for their surprise "special guest"....

Santa is seated in a rocking chair and ready to talk to all the kids and hand out a gift....

The first little girl climbs up onto Santa's lap ready to spend sometime and let Santa know what she wants for Christmas...

This is our niece Emily preparing to get on her Uncle Layne's lap...she never knew it was him...ohh the magic of Santa!!!!!

Our niece Natalie was reluctant to visit with Santa, so she watched from afar coloring on her Mom's lap....

CHRISTMAS DAY

Because we still has the Santa suit, my brother in law Mark dressed as Santa and secretly went to the front door and rang the bell....the kids went crazy when Santa came into the house...

Before taking time with the kids, Mark as Santa took a moment to kiss his Mrs. Claus (my sister Catherine) under the mistletoe....

Here is my nephew Herbie holding his niece Natalie who was still a bit apprehensive on getting too close to Santa...

This is our nephew Randy sitting on Santa's lap....no one is ever too old for St. Nick....

The newest member of the family, Olivia meets Santa...she is such a happy baby....she sat on Santa's (Uncle Mark) lap and laughed and waved her arms in glee....

Herbie and his kids...Randy, Emily and Olivia after their visit with Santa...


We had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends....hope yours was as delightful as well...those most important to us gathered together and touched our lives....we are very fortunate to have been surrounded by family....the dinner "tables" were surrounded with parents, sisters, brothers, brothers and sisters in law, nieces and nephews all gathered together to share a meal and good time with us...how very blessed my husband and I are that they would take time out of their busy day to spend it with us...sometimes I wonder what have I done so good that they would travel so far and give of their time to share it with us...those most precious to us were around that table...life truly does not getter than that!!!!!

Elizabeth

Old Holiday Teaser...Our Antique Snowman Collection

I love old snowmen. I have collected them for years...when the cold weather starts to come around one can't help but think of the holidays. So I thought I would share a little of my snowman collection as a type of teaser for all those that love old Christmas items.I keep all my old snowmen in antique oak vitrines. I have American, Japanese, German, Russian, Czech and many other snowmen of different origins. As you can see they are composed of all types of materials...glass, cotton batting, hard plastic, plaster, cardboard, scrap, paper and more.
I also collect old Christmas trees..feather, brush, glass, hard plastic and more. I also have a few Santas but for some unknown reason Santa just doesn't get to me like a snowman does.
In this vitrine I have more snowmen and as well as our kugel collection...these are glass ornaments...blown glass balls of different colors and silvered . They come in a variety of shapes and colors...some very rare and can be very expensive.
In this china cabinet are more snowmen as well as some old Halloween items. The turkeys were my grandmother's and they are very dear to me.

So I thought I would offer a teaser and give you a glimpse of my collection of old holiday...in the coming weeks I'll open the doors and take some individual photos to share.

Elizabeth