Santa Claus! #Christmasiscoming

When we were planning our trip and put Christmas, Michigan, on the itinerary, it only made sense to add Santa Claus, Indiana, especially since we were going to be right there when we stopped at Lincoln City.

Our first stop was at the Santa Claus Christmas Store.  I was excited to see this store, but disappointed when practically everything was made in China.  I had hoped to find some unique things there, but such was not the case.  

However, I did enjoy the Santa that greeted me outside and inside the store!  

There were also a couple of ornaments that I thought were sweet.

From there, we went to the Santa Claus Museum and Village.  The Village consists of the original Santa Claus Post Office, the 1880 Santa Claus church, and the historic Santa Claus statue from 1935.

The Museum houses documents and artifacts of the history of the town of Santa Claus and its transformation into a holiday (and then year-round) destination.  

Inside the museum is Santa's Indiana office for when he's in town.  They also have letters to Santa on display from children from the 1930s through the latest Christmas season.  

This is the inside of the Santa Claus church at the Museum and Village.

And this is the famous Santa Claus statue.

We already had Santa's Candy Castle on our itinerary, but it also came highly recommended by the salesclerk at the Christmas Store and the Museum.  We were sent with instructions to have the frozen hot chocolate.  I'd had one in North Carolina before, but frozen hot chocolate was a new, yet confusing concept for DH.  We each ordered one and after one sip, DH was no longer confused!  We both loved it so much.  In fact, I was so excited about getting one that I had nearly finished it before remembering that I hadn't taken a picture.  Thankfully the elves at Santa's Candy Castle responded to my message on Facebook to see if I could get a picture of one to use in my blog.  They were happy to do so, so photo credit below belongs to Santa's Candy Castle.  If we hadn't planned on leaving the area so early the next morning, I would have just gone back and gotten another one!

I'm glad we went - you see, I really love Christmas and Christmas-themed things - but I don't have a need to go again.  If we're ever passing through that way, though, I will stop for a frozen hot chocolate if it's during their open season!

Ho ho ho!

#christmasiscoming

~ Cindy D.