Where has the in store Santa gone? (Santa's Grotto)

Member Name: mandy

Product:	Santa's Grotto
Date:	10/11/00 (167 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: magical wonderlands for kids of all ages.

Disadvantages: not many around now.

Every year when I was a small child it was a tradition in the family that I would be taken to a big store such as Lewis's and stood in a giant queue waiting to see the hairy man in a red suit.

I would stand there in the store in that queue which was as long as the store but I wouldn't be bored because there I was sent off into an imaginary world of snow, elves, reindeers and the big guy himself!

The grottos would be fantastic with realistic automatons and Christmas music played over the speakers. Santa would be seated in a huge chair and after climbing on his lap I would tell him my wishes for presents. The feeling was heartwarming and it wasn't until I was too old to sit on Santa's lap did I stop believing in him.
Although at times I still do now!

Now I have two sons, I have from birth taken them everywhere at Christmas looking for that magical grotto in the local shops and found them too rare. The nearest grotto likeness that I have found is in Woolworths.

To make up for the lack of grottos I turn my home into one for my kids and my friends kids. Lights twinkle, trees talk, Santa figures move and sing, Tinsel covers all the furniture and one Rocking chair is cloaked in a red throw. Here I or my husband have in the past dressed up as Santa and acted the part for the children. They loved it so much that it doesn't matter as much if stores do not have grottos any more.

Why don't you all make a point though and suggest that your local schools, village halls or shops provide a display where a kind gentleman can bring some old fashioned magic at this time of year into children's lives?

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