The Lynn Haney Collection: Unique Handmade Santa’s
Santa Claus is a Christmas legend. We all know who he is and what he stands for, the kids love him and cannot wait to tell him their Christmas wishes every year. My kiddos love him much so we stood in line for an hour and a half a few weeks ago, outside at the gorgeous Perry Hotel here in northern Michigan. Luckily the weather was fantastic, and the kids had a absolute blast waiting in line, eating cookies and drinking hot cocoa, waiting their turn to see the big guy himself. They haven’t stopped talking about it since then asking ‘when is Christmas? Is it Christmas yet??’. The number of days until he arrives seems so short when you’re an adult with adult responsibilities, but to the kids December 25th is light years away.
Even prior to writing for Grandpa Shorter’s I had been in the store a handful of times throughout the year and never paid attention to the Santa’s behind the counters. Heck, I didn’t even know about them until a few months ago when Jennifer Shorter pointed them out to me. Now, they stand out to me every time I wander in checking out the unique goodies throughout the store.
We celebrate Christmas only once a year but these unique specialty Santa’s are available year around at Grandpa Shorter’s for collectors and Christmas enthusiasts. They are so unique in fact, that Grandpa Shorter’s even has their very own specialty Santa: ‘Santa of Snowshoe Lodge’ perfectly appropriate for our rich Michigan history and gorgeous winters here in Northern Michigan and only available at Grandpa Shorter’s in Petoskey Michigan or online at their website. There are two Snowshoe Lodge Santa’s to choose from: both hold custom handmade snowshoes while one holds a moose and the other, a bear. Both are uniquely designed and handmade making them a Christmas treasure.
These unique Santa’s are designed right here in the USA by a gentleman named Lynn Haney from Lubbock Texas. The Lynn Haney Collection was introduced in 1987 and is still going strong today. Once a junior high art teacher, Lynn’s creatively was fostered by his father, mother and grandmother while growing up. Each unique Santa is carefully handcrafted by Lynn’s skilled team and then hand painted. The beautiful costumes, all designed by Lynn himself are handmade by skilled seamstresses in Lynn’s shop and then put on. Finally the accessories, each unique to each individual Santa are also handmade and attached.
Before the handmade Santa’s leave Lynn’s shop and travel across the country to various clients and shops, each Santa is inspected to make sure he is perfect and ready to go. According to Lynn ‘In this fast-paced world we still enjoy hand-painting the faces, fluffing the beards, cutting and sewing the fabric for costumes, and stuffing many Santa’s bags with goodies and toys to go on each one of our pieces.’
Christmas only comes once a year yet these unique handmade Lynn Haney Collection Santas are priceless and truly a special gift.
Follow Lynn Haney on Facebook and Pinterest. Visit the Lynn Haney website for more information on Lynn and to view the entire 2014 current collection.
