about us

1. Perhaps it’s Filipinos celebrate Christmas at an early period?

• Perhaps it’s a combination of several things. our catholic religion, our wanting to get together with relatives-friends, our smiling/happy disposition.

2. How long does it take to prepare all the decors for the Christmas season?

• Casa Santa is a 365-day exhibit.  therefore it’s a continuous preparation for us. but purchasing of Santas happens in the 4th quarter of the year when stores carry Christmas items. For 2014, we have an upgrade of more dramatic lights designed by international light designer, Shoko Matsumoto.  Casa Santa has to be dressed up as early as September 1 to prepare for T.V. location shoots. Last 2018, the Casa Santa Museum partnered with Gloria “Dodit” Reyes, a Belen collector based in Quezon City. Her Belen collection used to be housed for several years in Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Tagaytay Highlands and now forms a new section in the Casa Santa Museum. In 2019, the loft of the museum was expanded to contain another new section called Santa’s Toy Factory. The Toy Factory is a creation of Mr. Giacomo Tierra, an Italian craftsman specializing in woodworks and wood carving. This 2020 Mr. Giacomo Tierra completed an addition to the Toy Factory called the Grinch Corner.  It lets the viewer experience a different take of the Christmas season’s only hater, to complete the Full Christmas Experience.
• if possible, we’d also like to shoot or accompany you if you are already buying decors for Casa Santa.
  
  • We mostly do our shopping overseas, online.

3. When was the physical structure of Santa’s house completed?

• Original house built in the 1950s; remodeled by  Arch. Rosario ‘Ning” Encarnacion-Tan in 1992.

4. Who did it and what were the changes installed in transforming it into Santa’s house?

• When I took over overseeing the property, I did not have the Casa Santa in mind.  The Santa collection started in 1994.  Arch. Tan at that time did not want the house to look like a city house so she incorporated lattices in the ceilings, pointed eaves, and painted walls of mango fruits/leaf colors.  She came out with a postmodern eclectic style which in hindsight was perfect to house the tropical Casa Santa.  In 2008 the façade was muralled to simulate Santa’s house by Alfred Galvez, our best muralist in town.<be>

5. Is this a house without any geographical indicators, like in a cold country with snow, or is it a house anywhere in the world where kids believe in Santa?

• In the high ceiling inside the Casa Santa, Muralist Galvez painted a flying Santa on a sleigh with gifts on a superimposed window from the trusses of the ceiling.

6. When did you start collecting the Santas prior to having the house rebuilt? How many countries did you cover?

• I’ve traveled to more than 90 countries and in each of these, I make it a point to buy a representational Santa.  I was not successful which included Antarctica.  There are other countries, like Myanmar, which is a Buddhist country and do not believe in St. Nicholas/Santa. Therefore, I had to find a representational one.  It was their heavenly gods dressed like Santa, with caps and beards.

7. How is your collection evolving?

• When I first started with it in 1994 it was just a few pieces that eventually came to several hundred.  If you would compare to a business, you would go first to “tingi” then “sari-sari store” then “entrepreneurial” then “corporate.”  I went “entrepreneurial” when I opened the Casa Santa in Christmas 2004 and still working on the “corporate” stage in 2022.  We are serious with the collection which has turned into a business now that we have over 3,700 Santas/Christmas items.

8. What was the country from where you got the most Santas?

• 65% of these were bought in the Philippines, especially the big items.  The U.S. is a very good source. Germany, particularly Rothenburg, is our third source.

9. What were your criteria in selecting the Santas?

1. During the first half, it was just getting all Santas I come across but during the latter half, I became selective, and have been even more selective, purchasing limited edition Christmas themed toys.

10. What is your smallest collection?

• It is Coca Cola’s 6-pc Santa which is just 1.5cm in height.

11. Did you go on specific Santa Buying trips or was it something you did as an aside to regular holidays abroad?

• There were several trips to the U.S. dedicated to Santa purchases.  These were the shopping trips timed after 25 December when the stores drop in prices.  The collection is an expensive hobby and therefore I always find ways and means to source the cheapest.  However, for items that are a real must, I do not wait for prices to the dropdown.

12. Where did you find the most variety of Santas?

• Rothenburg, Germany, in the heart of the village is the old fashioned German market place with an all-year-round Christmas Village.  The main store there is KatheWohlfahrt’s. They have branches worldwide. Rovaniemi, Santa’s Official Post Office. In 2019, my Christmas dream came true.  I visited Rovaniemi, Finland, which is the official post office of Santa, but I was disappointed with their collection.  I still think that the Philippines’ Casa Santa can beat their hands down.  In 2019 the Santa station closed down. History of Santa Claus. Europe is where the mythical Saint Nicholas (also called Father Christmas, Kris Kringle) started, bringing gifts to homes of good children. It was exported to Canada and the U.S. in the 19^th century as caricatures by Thomas Nast; further, it was commercialized by Coca Cola in 1920.  It is now depicted from the bishop’s robes of St. Nicholas to a plump, jolly, white-bearded wearing a red coat with white collar called Santa Claus.

13. What was your most expensive Santa?

• Swarovski, the most expensive one was bought in an airport in Amsterdam.  To this day I have been continually buying Swarovski’s annual releases.

14. And the cheapest Santa?

• A paper cut out bought in China in the early 1990s.

15. What would you say is the total cost of your entire Santa collection?

• P8M.

16. Have you considered insuring your entire collection, just like you would insure an artwork?

• The collection is insured.

17. Are there any pieces that are one-of-a-kind or limited editions? Have you ever commissioned any Santa piece, like for instance the painting on the ceiling?

• Aside from the murals in the ceiling and exterior walls, I brought a fern trunk from Baguio and asked the late artist Aleli Vengua to hand paint it.  She used the nodes to paint the 30 different faces of Santas.  That’s the most unique and I should say priceless of the collection.  Aleli, incidentally, was an exporter of Christmas trimmings to Hallmark/Silvestre/Department 54.  She was a great influence on how I started the collection.  Also, the Old Man Forest Santa is an unusual, one of a kind piece, which was carved from a trunk in Colorado.

18. What are the Santa pieces specifically for adults (for example the chess set)?

• Tic Tac Toe.  Painting by Wilfredo Alicdan’s Naghihintay Kay Santa which we have replicated as Christmas Cards and sold in our Souvenir Shop. Christmas tree trimmings. Stockings. Capturing the exhibit on camera.

19. What are the Santas that are unique?

• Aside from the specific collection mentioned above, Tin collection (mostly from Germany). Painted eggshell collection (biggest egg from Buenos Aires, Argentina). Oil from the Bone of St. Nicolas from Bari, Italy.  Miniature Dog Santa collection.   Michael Cacnio’s interpretation using The Bomb (toy collectible) as head and mounting it in a sculptured brass body of Santa. Horse rider handpainted from a small town in Russia.

20. You said you were not initially a Santa fan or collector. Has this attitude changed through the years of Santa exposure?

• There is always a joy when a collector acquires a new piece.  Especially now that it has turned into a Museum as each acquisition becomes more defined.

21. Feedback from Field Trip kids who visit the house.

• Their favorite room is  Santa’s Playroom. And after that, they hurry to the grounds, run and play at the Galera where the Noah’s Ark is.

22. What are the house rules for visitors to Santa’s house?

• Have you ever lost anything? Am sure there have been some pickpocketing but then we can not avoid that as we do not want the Santas encased in glassed cabinets.  Otherwise, it will feel like a traditional museum. But the biggest “heist” was when we hired a decorator to fix the Lego Display and he runs away with 30% of the collection.

23. What others can be seen within the Jardin de Miramar compound aside from Casa Santa?

• Galera with its rustic playground and Noah’s Ark, mini-Intramuros, the different thematic venues.  Plus sculptures and artworks of Eduardo Castrillo, Daniel Dela Cruz, Reggie Yuson, Hannah Liongoren, Michael Cacnio, Tony Leano, Alfred Galvez, Jason Buensalido (who is also an architect who designed the Isla Palma in Jardin’s compound), Moreen Austria, Jordan Mendoza,

24. What happens if a kid breaks a particularly rare piece of Santa?

• How do you monitor the Santa pieces since there are no roped-off areas in the house? There were very few breakages but we do not any more charges for the visitors.

25. I didn’t get to see Santa’s bathroom and toilet, is there one?

• It’s a funny toilet inside the Casa Santa and a favorite of visitors.

26. What will happen when Santa’s house will become too crowded for all the collection, will you build him another house, or maybe his children a house?

• The museum is already tight.  We can always extend as there is still a big space on the grounds to build on. The property is close to 3 hectares which is only 50% utilized.

27. What do you think does the practice of propagating the existence of a Santa Claus do the children?

• Gives children the magic of Christmas which carries through to adulthood.  I would not want to take that away from them.  Up till now, when people see the collection during the off-season, they automatically shift to wonderful memories of childhood.  Seeing them happy makes me happy too