06/22/2026
Thank you from the very bottom of our hearts for joining us for all the fun! This event will be something that our family and friends will forever hold as amazing memories. So many of your kiddos have grown up right in front of our eyes! We will remember serving hundreds of bags of popcorn (probably more like thousands) and many gallons of hot chocolate, children throwing fake snowballs, the mailing of letters to the North Pole, climbing on the tractor, and of course hearing the priceless conversations with Santa while visiting the barn. Every night after we wrapped things up, we as a family shared stories of what happened that evening and it reminded us that all the work was worth it!
Tim (Santa), we know that you'll enjoy your new adventures with your amazing show! (If you enjoyed his "magic tricks" in the barn, look up his Parlor Tricks page! Ya never know, if y'all nudge him hard enough he may have a show for the kids soon!) You can now hang up that Santa coat for good and and not have to spread Christmas cheer before Halloween even shows up. You brought magic to the barn every night for the kiddos and reminded the adults of the childlike wonder of Christmas! I'm glad we "retired" this event beautifully together and and we are thankful that we've gained a forever friend.
Tracy Vojta, your abundance of decorations and the way you arranged it all in the barn was perfection. There were so, so many compliments year after year! Our trips to Hobby Lobby for even MORE decorations (like we really needed more!) were fun and crazy at the same time. You also made my "job" in the barn much more manageable with a simple clipboard to keep everyone organized. The joyful preschool teacher voice that you have and the way you sang "Baby Shark" like a boss was a highlight when entertaining the kids. Ha ha! I will always cherish our friendship and will remember our talks in the barn as we (okay, you) fluffed Christmas trees and cut those lovely zip ties for light strands in preparation each year.
To my kids, thank you for giving up your playroom for 2 months every year so we could have a cozy place for visitors to gather. Y'all have learned work ethics and sacrifice along the way and mastered loving on others by welcoming them into our home. For this, I am very proud because God indeed calls us to serve others. Y'all were 5 and 2 when this all started and are now 15 and 12. Unbelievable! Pate, you ran that popcorn stand like you were born to do it and worked hard laying those pavers to the barn. Only to turn right around and take them up after the Santa season was over. You vacuumed the barn from top to bottom with no complaints and without even being asked. You're truly the hardest worker that I know. One of my favorite memories of you all of these years during Santa? When you were maybe 8, you walked down to the barn holding a tooth you just pulled and I was in the middle of a session where I couldn't really stop doing photos but I did anyway. I didn't want to miss that excitement. Zoe, your smile and the curveball with which you threw those fake snowballs brought much laughter to the visitors! Favorite memory during those 10 years? Probably when you were almost 3 years old... Santa drove up into our backyard in his SUV instead of a sleigh. As he walked to the barn your face was plastered to the glass door trying to figure it all out.
Last but not least, to my husband Lee Heneisen... thank you for enduring that first year. Haha! I know this all made ZERO sense. And rightfully so. After that very first night in 2016, after all the people had left and the barn lights had been turned off and the popcorn was cleaned up, I remember hugging you and crying in the kitchen and told you that it was better than I could have imagined. As the years went along, it got better and better! You came to love it too and added your own special touches that made this YOUR event too...the flashing Christmas tree at the road that signaled "you've arrived" and of course the unforgettable magic North Pole mailbox that left the kids with their jaw dropped! I can't imagine how many Santa letters were "mailed!" You weren't much of a people person when this all started but through the years you looked forward to seeing everyone and found joy in talking with them. Thank you for allowing my dream of something so crazy become a reality. I'll never be able to thank you enough for that. My favorite memory of us during Santa? Oh, my. So many! Maybe year #3? You were so exhausted after the sessions you went to bed a lot earlier than usual. A couple hours later, after I finally went to bed, I suddenly realized that we didn't pick up the tree at the road like we do every every night. I didn't want to wake you so I went to get it myself. I got 50 yards up the driveway and turned back around VERY quickly because I heard screaming in the not so far off distance. I had never heard anything like that!! I came back in the house, Googled "animals that scream" and it sent me to YouTube. Call me a city girl, but it was coyotes and they were in the pasture across the street. There was no way I was going to get that tree now! Soooo, I woke you up. And then the year that the neighbor's sweet little kitten was hanging around before the sessions started. We kept shooing it off, only for it to keep coming back! Later that evening, during the middle of the sessions, Tim and I kept hearing it meow under the barn. You went out behind the barn, called it out and put a plastic kiddie pool over the hole so it couldn't get back under there. I love you, Honey! Thank you for loving me for (almost) 20 years! Thanksgiving will look a lot different in 2026 without "Santa" but it'll become family time spent a little differently. Maybe a cruise? Please enjoy some of our family’s fun times in photos through the 10 years!
What is YOUR favorite memory? Post a photo or tell us your sweet or funny story about your visit! We'd love to hear from you!
