Ahhhh, Christmas. I must admit, it's never lost its magic for me. I love the most wonderful time of the year and all the festive traditions that accompany it. I love them so much, in fact, that I took my unassuming family on a wild Santa chase in mid-November. Now, I had no idea what this experience would actually be like since I had only read about it in a magazine advert. (That's what they call "ads" over here and I've adopted the word on an occasional basis.) The article showed a beautifully dressed Santa sitting near a quaint fire beneath a fantastic Christmas tree adorned with all the finest golden treasures. His bifocals sat just perfectly on his nose and his over-sized red arm chair looked just comfy enough to sit all winter. I fell victim to the visual appeal, and I was ready to read on about when and where I could go and meet Santa. The ad spoke of "Santa's Grotto" and meeting his reindeer, and went on to say that children would get to sit and listen to a Christmas story read by Father Christmas -himself- while sitting by the fire. It made mention that parents would enjoy hot apple cider and mince pies, and that each child would take home a sapling Christmas tree and a special gift from Santa. The day would also include free balloon animals, face painting and special characters on stilts! To top it all off, the real and original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car was to be Santa's coach and would remain on display for the rest of the day. **DONE** It was settled: We were going.
As real life has a way of doing, the day played out a little differently than the beautiful images the words of the ad had painted in my mind: Collin had a morning meeting with his team and rushed to be home by noon so that we could load up in the stroller and walk 25 minutes to the city center to catch the correct bus departing at 12:45 that would take us to Frilford, England. One-fourth of the way to the bus stop, I realized our tickets were still laying on the bed. (Way to go, Steph.) The girls and I continue on to try and catch the bus while Collin runs back home to grab the tickets. About 10 more paces down the road and I realized that I had ALSO forgotten our camera! Collin was already out of sight on his way home so I search my purse for my cell phone. Nope- it's home as well. "Maybe he'll see them there and grab them?" NOPE. Men on a mission have tunnel vision. But, he DID get the tickets and we DID make it to the bus stop in time. So off we go... on the bus... heading in the direction of Millets Farm in Frilford.
An hour later, the bus dropped us off and drove away. We surveyed our surroundings: Farmland... farmland... a Shell petrol station... more farmland. Good thing we asked the driver how we get to Millets Farm from where he was dropping us! He directed us on a 20 minute walk, and we followed his instructions. We had a sidewalk for most of the way, but there was the occasional spot when I had to hold branches back for Collin to get by with the stroller. ONLY GOD KNOWS where in the world we were, but we did finally find sweet Millets Farm and the Frosts Garden Centre store that promised to introduce us to Santa. We had arrived, and we undoubtedly should have won the prize for "best effort" as we saw NO other pedestrian patrons! (...and now we know why...)
Hours of travel and a bit of a lackluster Santa experience compared to what I thought we would get based upon the words in the ad, but in general it was a fun family afternoon. Next time maybe we'll rent a car... Or maybe we'll just make a family pact not to chase after Santa in mid-November. There's plenty of time to hunt him down and stand in long lines in December.
On the bus and excited to go on our Santa adventure! Collin liked this particular brand of yield sign, too, so he took a picture.
We probably should have turned back when we saw the tractor signs. Just call us determined.
We made it! Posing with the "real and original" Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car from the 1968 movie. It was BIG.
Ohh, these sweet elderly people must have made it across the road thanks to the signs. (Either that, or they traveled to this remote destination and never found their way back to the mainland!)
Meeting reindeer an other magical, mechanical animals.
The girls talking with "Silly Billy" the Elf. (I don't know, either.)
Finally getting to go inside to see Santa. (That's how I felt about it all, too, Jules... Santa's beard may have been short, but his story was looooong.)
Happy with our "Charlie Brown" tree and our gifts from Santa!
Getting ready to taste the cafe's specialty cake: Lavender Orange. Now this was one thing that DID live up to expectations... It. Was. Amazing.
The walk back to the bus stop. A beautiful ending to the day.
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