A Collection That Surpasses Santa’s Workshop

Santa Claus is coming to town.

First, though, he has stopped off at Mary Cassidy’s house, where on Thursday he was sitting on her living room couch. Working in her kitchen. Relaxing in her family room. Hanging out in her bathroom.

Santas were everywhere you looked in her Alhambra home. That’s because the place is filled with 800 of them.

The legendary white-bearded fat man who brings toys to good little boys and girls at Christmas brings joy to Cassidy.

“I love Santa Claus. Santa appeals to children. And at Christmastime we all want to go back to our childhood,” she explained. “Those were happy days for most of us.”

Cassidy, 68, began collecting Santa Clauses 50 years ago when her mother gave her a corduroy-suited Santa figure made by a craftsman in Temecula.

These days, she adds to her collection whenever she spies a Santa she doesn’t already have. Even with no duplicates, she has so many that it takes her a month to pull them out of storage in a vacant bedroom, unwrap them and put them on display.

When she’s finished there are Santas hanging from doorknobs and lampshades. There are Santa rugs and mats on the floor. A Santa swings to and fro on the pendulum of the grandfather clock by the front door.

Santa pillows sit on the couch. Musical Santas cover the coffee table. More Santas spill from five smaller tables scattered about the living room, fill bookcase shelves and swallow up a desk in the corner.

Santas march across a fireplace mantel above a hearth that is lined with more Santas. Other Santas overflow into the den, where they cover tables and shelves and the breakfast counter in the adjoining kitchen.

There, Santa potholders are next to the stove. A Santa soap dispenser is by the sink--next to the Santa hand towels and the Santa wine bottle cover.

Cassidy knows the history of each of her Santas--the surfing Santa purchased in Hawaii, the Amish Santa from Wisconsin, the sax-playing Santa from New Orleans, the Mexican Santa with his burro, the bagpipe-playing Scottish Santa, the gray-colored Santa made from the volcanic ash of Mt. St. Helens.

She has Santas hammering in tiny workshops, Santas sewing toy bags, a Santa sitting in an outhouse, Santas in sleighs and Santas on horseback. There’s a Santa Mountie from Canada, an Uncle Sam Santa from Washington and a cowboy Santa from Texas.

Friends and family members find her easy to shop for. And Santa Claus certainly knows what to give Cassidy each Christmas: himself.

“My husband’s aunt gave me this one,” Cassidy said, pointing to a white ceramic Santa in the living room. “My daughter Kathleen gave me the one over on the stairs. My husband gave me the Santa fisherman over there.”

Friends and neighbors have watched the collection grow during the 31 years the Cassidys have lived on Alahmar Street. On Thursday, a gaggle of kindergartners from nearby St. Therese School, hoping for a look, rang Cassidy’s doorbell. (It plays “Jingle Bells.”)

Cassidy rewarded them with a tour and pointed out some of her favorite Santas.

“This is my fun one. I had to have it,” she said, demonstrating a twirling Santa.

In the next room, the children spied a skiing Santa. “You really needed that one, too,” agreed Zack Tarbet, 5.

The tour ended in the dining room, where a Santa on a flying trapeze hangs from the chandelier. The children thanked Cassidy with a spirited rendition of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”

Listening from the kitchen with a grin on his face was Emmett Cassidy, a retired owner of an employment agency.

Every Christmas is the same, he said. Santa Claus is always good to his wife.