A Christmas brunch at home brings the family to one table on a December weekend, and adding a Santa Claus house call in Columbus once the plates are cleared gives the children something to remember long after the last bite.
A Christmas Brunch at Home, Then Santa
Pick a Saturday or Sunday in December when the grandparents, aunts and uncles or close friends can all sit down together. That one choice of day is enough; the rest of the morning is about the table, not about hunting for a date on a calendar.
Guests arrive, everyone eats, and the table is cleared before Santa comes. Santa arrives once the meal is over. The children stay at the table through the last round of coffee, then they move while the dishes go to the kitchen.
Families who call from Clintonville, Bexley, Hilliard and Worthington often treat this as the one gathering of the month when both sides of the family are in the same room. The brunch is for the grown-ups as much as for the kids. Santa is the second half of the morning.
Clear the Table, Gather by the Tree
While the dishes are cleared, the children gather in the living room by the tree. That way Santa can take his seat as soon as he comes in. A grown-up can keep the kids in that room with a book or a quiet game so nobody wanders back to the sticky table.
Have a lamp on by the tree so faces show in the pictures. Coats can stay in a bedroom. The dining room can stay a little lived-in as long as the living room is ready for him to sit down.
What Santa Does After Brunch
Santa greets each child by name, hears the wish lists and has a word for the grandparents too. He asks who traveled in, who cooked, and which child sat next to whom. The grandparents get a handshake and a minute of talk, not only a spot in the background of a picture.
Then the pictures: one of each child with Santa, then one with the grandparents and the grandchildren together. An aunt or uncle can take those while a parent stays with the younger kids. Leave a little time at the end for anyone who wants a second turn.
Gifts are optional. If Santa will hand them out, they are labeled by name and handed to a grown-up before he comes in.
How to Time the Visit
Tell us the date, roughly when brunch will be finished, and how many children. That is enough to start. A Santa home visits booking is the one that matches a house full of relatives. Contact us with those three facts and we will confirm the rest on the call.
Close-up photos of a grandchild on Santa’s knee look better with a real bearded Santa, because the beard is his. The traditional Santa wears the traditional suit with a full styled beard and costs less, which suits a bigger family group. Mrs. Claus can join as an add-on and sit with the smallest children while the grandparents take their turn.
A morning of icing stars and trees can sit beside this brunch if you want two activities in one day. Families who already planned a cookie-decorating afternoon can serve a simple brunch first, then let Santa see both the table and the cookies by the tree.
A christmas brunch at home is one table, one tree, and Santa after the plates are stacked. Clintonville living rooms, Bexley dining rooms, Hilliard kitchens and Worthington family rooms all hold that kind of morning. The relatives eat together. Santa comes when the meal is over and the children are already by the tree.
Set one extra chair at the table for a late grandparent, and keep a high chair in the living room so a toddler can sit near the tree once the meal is over. The brunch plates can wait in the kitchen. Santa’s time is with the children and the grandparents by the tree.