Indiana

     We had Christmas in September last week when we drove over to Indiana for the day. The city of Santa Claus is just a tiny little blip on the map, but what a fun, off-the-beaten-path destination. The drive through Hoosier National Forest alone was enough to make me want to come back. We are just starting to see some autumn color blushing the leaves in the Tri-State. The weather is cooler, and the sunlight casts the most beautiful light right now. We packed a little picnic and ate outside the Santa Claus Museum under a giant maple tree, golden leaves floating all around us. In fact, I think the maple leaves were Eden's favorite part of the day, as we had to coax her into the museum by promising time to collect leaves later.

     The museum itself is pretty small, with a few displays of Santa memorabilia and a video about the history of the town and some key players in its development. It seems everyone thought Bill Koch was crazy when he came up with the idea in the 1960s to build a gated subdivision in the area, but he persisted, and Christmas Lake Village has recently begun to flourish.
     The town post office gets thousands of letters every year addressed to Santa. Local volunteers have been answering letters since 1914. My favorite part of the museum was reading letters from over the years, some as far back as the 1930s. Some of them are hilarious,

     "I would gladly trade my one and only mom for a dog any day!"

Others, heartbreaking,

     "Santa, can you make my Mom and Dad get back together . . . "

     "Bring my Dad back from the war . . ."

Can you guess the decade? :)

     We had the property pretty much to ourselves and couldn't resist singing a hymn in the original Santa Claus Church, built in 1880 and still containing most of its original furnishings.

 

Isn't Jacob the best sport ever? <3

 
 




 




     The kids penned their letters to Santa while sitting in antique desks in the original Santa Claus post office. All the supplies you need to write your letter are all ready in the desks. You have to make sure you write your return address, and sometime in December you get a return letter from Santa! There are also shelves of Christmas books to look at and a few toys.







When you put your letter into the mail box, you are supposed to ring the bells so the elves know you were there.

 


















      Before we left we took some pics in front of the huge statue of Santa. This was a bit distracting because you can hear the screams from the adjacent Holiday World theme park, which we DIDN'T do. It was hard to convince the younger kids that the town history and museum were way more interesting and fun than roller coasters, so there was some of this going on.

Directly in front of the giant Santa below. The irony.

We BELIEVE!

 


     Still a very fun, interesting day.  What we took away from Santa Claus the town was a strange combination of child-like wonder and a spirit of perseverance when faced with opposition. What a great precursor to our travels.