Christmas touches young and old, its festive spirit welcomed. However, that Waiuku should be home to a ‘grotto’ of Santas to rival that of any North Pole workshop is remarkable. Darren McDonald checked it out.

Fear not, because the magic of Christmas is alive. Yes, Santa is real, and he lives in Waiuku (of all places).

And knowing what we do about Christmas (fairy lights and all), does it come as any surprise that Santa is actually an electrician?

His name is Jim Sneddon, and admittedly, he may not be the real Santa, but he does collect them… animated Santas which come in every shape and size.

There’s a hoola-hoop Santa, a disco Santa, a rock ‘n’ roll Santa, and even a Santa who spins around, drops his pants and announces “I have a surprise for you.” (We’ll say no more.)

Jim and his wife Phyllis have been collecting unusual Christmas decorations for decades, and they are sharing them in an impressive public display at the Waiuku Town Hall.

“We started the collection as a competition between two families, because when kids leave home, Christmas changes. We decided to have our own Christmas with a competition on Christmas Eve based on who could find the funniest Santa Claus,” Jim explains.

Initially, the contest involved collecting Santas worth less than five dollars, but it got a little more serious when Jim discovered a ‘snoring’ Santa in Canada. 

“You touched him, his stomach came up and down, and he looked quite real. By the third year, things started getting out of hand. We were trying to outdo each other by buying all sorts of Santas.”

These days the collection is so enormous it fills the Waiuku Town Hall and Phyllis says many of the animated Santas can’t be bought in New Zealand any more.

“You just don’t see them,” she says. “And they are a real laugh; you are laughing the whole day. You know that when the public come in here they are going to be amazed and they’ll go out laughing too. If someone hits on a ‘naughty’ Santa first, then they are away… especially the old folk in the buses.”

While it has its lighter side, the display is also a magical journey through the history of Christmas incorporating some treasured and rare collectables from Coca Cola and Disney including a festive plane-load of Disney’s most famous characters and a fully operational ski-lift.

Jim says it was Coca Cola who first trademarked Father Christmas in a red suit – “before that, he wore green.”

The Sneddon’s display also includes model trains, circling planes, glistening ornaments, a talking Christmas tree and festive house ornaments that glow. It took a month to set up and now requires hundreds of batteries, together with Jim’s 50 years electrical experience, to keep it going.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do as much without being a ‘sparkie’,” he says. “It makes it pretty easy.”

Although the display uses a fair bit of electricity Jim says with LEDs, it is still “reasonably economical.”

The Christmas exhibition is the first public event in the Waiuku Town Hall since its recent refurbishment and Jim is thrilled.

Jim and Phyllis Sneddon, creators of festive magic for young and old.

“The first time I came in here was for a fancy dress ball when I was at primary school,” he recalls. “Then as I got a bit older I came with the boy scouts for the Anzac parade. Next I was here playing in the brass band, and then I became the projectionist. The hall has always been a part of my life, so it is really neat to now have our Christmas display here.”

With so many decorations, Jim and Phyllis say it’s hard to pick a favourite but they are very fond of the animated Santa who tells the story of Christmas.

There’s even a wonderful decoration they made themselves. “We wanted a picture window looking out, so we made up a Christmas window scene with Santa looking in and reindeer in the background that rock and roll.”

Despite their Christmas addiction, Jim and Phyllis say their home is a decoration-free zone. They get all their joy from the faces of visitors young and old. “A lot of people say it never feels like Christmas until they come here.”

The Christmas display can be seen daily at the Waiuku Town Hall from 10am-8pm up until Christmas. And on December 18, the Glenbrook railway has a train visiting Waiuku.