It’s time to talk about the big guy himself. I love Santa Claus! Everyone waits for the man with the bag and why not? We’ve all been good this year. Well mostly, but we all deserve a little something extra for making it through 2020, right? Santa Claus plays a big role in the magic of the season for little ones. So many traditions surround St. Nick with his sleigh and reindeer that fly through the sky on a magical ride bringing so much joy to little ones all over the world. We have the famous poem describing him as the man with a “broad face and a little round belly, that shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly.” There are countless stories and movies about his toy operation at the North Pole so we just had to take one of our 12 days to make sure we incorporated all the fun Santa themed activities we could think of. Read on to check out all of the Ho Ho Holiday fun we were up to this year.
123 Elf Road, North Pole
Well, it all starts with the letter. Sweet little ones making a list and sending it off with some festive holiday postage is just adorable. It helps us too, though, right? If I make them sit down and do a list, it helps me and the rest of the family with ideas for Christmas gifts. I recommend doing this early in December, so you do not run into the whole ‘stuck in transit’ situation again. I feel like that happened to just about everyone I know this year.
Breakfast with Santa
For the last several years, we have been going to a local hotel that hosts a breakfast with Santa. The kids get to eat breakfast, decorate a cookie, make an ornament, and get their picture with Santa. We have gotten some of our best pictures at this event every year. This year, the event was canceled so I decided we would have our own breakfast at the North Pole. I stayed up late one Friday night to decorate the room and the next morning the kids came down and we had a special holiday breakfast. Sure, our Santa was inflatable, but this was still one of my favorite things we did this year. I just grabbed some holiday plates, napkins and forks at Wal-Mart and a Christmas plastic tablecloth. I have included links below to the other decorations I used. The ornament glasses are advertised as shot glasses, but they are small and perfect for little hands. The kids loved drinking their juice and chocolate milk out of these, so they were a big hit. For the menu, I made some strawberry Santa hats. I just cut the strawberries so there was a bottom and a top (hat) and put whip cream and two chocolate sprinkles for eyes in the middle. We also did a donut hole tree. I made some icing to drizzle over the donuts and then added holiday sprinkles. 1 cup of powdered sugar, 2-3 teaspoons of water and 1 ½ teaspoons of vanilla extract is all you need for an easy, quick icing. I have included links to two other breakfast items we had. For the French toast rollups, you can just add some red sprinkles to make them more festive. My boys love these! There are really all sorts of things you can do for a great holiday breakfast. Since we have already done things like Christmas tree waffles and snowman pancakes for some of our other themed days, we decided to do something different.
Santa Ornament
A great Santa activity is making these ornaments out of small wooden slices. Amazon has some you can order that are pre-drilled with holes and come with the twine for hanging. For the Santa ornaments, I used a round cookie cutter that fit the size of the ornament to trace both white and red circles. I cut a red and white circle in half to make the hat and the white beard. Just use some glue to attach them to the wooden ornament. The only other items you need are small red poms for the Santa nose and a sharpie for the eyes. If you are making the snowman too, just glue the white circle, use the sharpie for the eyes and mouth and grab an orange marker to draw the nose. These are so easy and super cute. I used these for my son’s pre-K Christmas party class craft, and they were a hit.
Santa Movies
When I was little, I loved Santa Claus: The Movie. It is such as sweet story that explains how Santa Claus came to be, all the magic of the North Pole with the elves, and how the reindeer fly. The cast includes greats like Dudley Moore and John Lithgow. I know you probably are not looking for a recommendation from 1985 but you should give it a try. Even if you just watch the beginning when Santa and Mrs. Claus are taken to the North Pole for the first time and the ancient elf explains everything to them. It really is so sweet. Of course, another great option is The Santa Claus with Tim Allen. It is also sweet and has a great cast. The sequels of The Santa Claus are also cute. A more recent film series is The Christmas Chronicles. I have not seen it but I am always looking for new Christmas movies and they did release The Christmas Chronicles Part Two this year so that adds a couple of Santa film options. I believe both are available on Netflix.
Santa was very good to us this year and I hope he was good to all of you as well. I kinda feel like we all got a pass even if we did cry or pout with all that 2020 hurled at us. We certainly enjoyed our 12 Days of Christmas and I hope you have too. My goal is to share all that we do in the hopes that it might give someone else an idea who may be looking for fun holiday activities to enjoy with little ones. I will leave you with some of my favorite holiday quotes about Santa,
“May you never be too grown up to search the skies on Christmas Eve.”-unknown
“Seeing isn’t believing. Believing is seeing.”-Judy the elf, from The Santa Claus
“Here’s what we know about Santa. He sees you when you’re sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows if you’ve been bad or good. I think he’s with the NSA.”-David Letterman
“Just because you can’t see something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.” -Charlie Calvin from The Santa Claus
A very Merry Christmas to everyone and a Happy New Year! Thank you for visiting mockingbirdmom.com
