Adding to the Collection

Meet the newest member of my collection
Japan Santa

I've been a Santa Collector since 1986. My Dad died one week before Christmas that year and was buried just a few days before the holiday. I had been to a local craft sale earlier that month and bought a tall hand painted ceramic Old World style Santa to begin my Christmas decor collection. As I returned from the funeral and attempted to enjoy our son's first Christmas after a rough week, I saw that Santa sitting on a shelf. It made me think about my Dad...not in a sad way but in a reminiscent/sentimental way...remembering all the many Christmas's that he and Mom scraped together enough money to make happy Christmases for their five children. I could still see him leaning under the tree to reach our presents and hear his voice calling out the names on the labels. The memory that this one Santa on a shelf gave to me that year gave me comfort through a sad time. So I determined that rather than mourn the loss of my Dad every year at Christmas that I would instead remember him as I purchased a new Santa each year in his honor. My collection grew through the years and with all our travels I was able to collect Santa's I never anticipated my collection ever containing.Sometimes I bought more than one within a year but I always picked one for my Dad. None of them are extravagant Santa's and many are special only to me because I know the country they came from or the story behind them. I can't look at my Santas without thinking about my Dad and that was my intention when I began the collection.

Picture from the Ad so you can see what
the Okinawa Santas looked like.

Leslie had no idea about my Santa collection when she invited me to go with her yesterday to an Okinawa Santa sale at one of the "Marine Wives Gift shops" at a nearby base. She told me that the Okinawa Santas are a very popular collectible among the women on base. I knew from past experience what that meant. It became the item that everyone had to have just to say they have one. Since I hadn't purchased this year's Santa yet, I was intrigued and said I'd love to go to see them and get one if I liked it. I drove to the base by myself (my first time driving off base) to meet her and we got in line about 1 1/2 hours before the doors were set to open. There were already maybe 15 women ahead of us. They said this year that they were limiting the Okinawa Santas to two per person because last year some of the women in the front of the line came in and bought five and ten santas and those in the back were left with none. They wanted to make it fairer for all those waiting in line. They also had nutcrackers dressed in military attire from each of the branches of the military and a few other styles of Santas. We enjoyed conversation with all the women around us and so the wait flew by quickly. The doors opened at 5:00 p.m. They had Okinawa Santas in either red, blue or yellow robes and you were to get a ticket for the one you wanted. When I first entered I got a ticket for a red Okinawa one but then after looking at all of them more closely, I saw the Japan Santa sitting on the shelf next to the others and I was drawn to him more than the Okinawa style. I took my ticket for the Okinawa Santa back and exchanged it for the Japan style Santa and now I have this year's Santa purchased. He will be a great addition to my collection.