By Norma Adams-Wade
Columnist
Time is running out for Pat Hamilton to dismantle her beloved collection of about 500 Black Santas and nearly a dozen Christmas trees that flow throughout her upscale, two-story home in DeSoto. One tree alone is adorned with 217 Black Santa ornaments.
The retired Dallas school district administrator usually takes time throughout January to take down what took weeks to put up before Christmas and years to amass. She spares no expense in adding to her collection. If she sees what she likes, she buys it.
The collection includes Black Santas of every size. When visitors enter her home during Christmas, they first see her entry Hall of Black Santas displaying some as tall as 6 feet. Throughout the house, some are as small as tree ornaments. Some are animated.
Others are in costumes of various colors and designs–all gold, all white, or career themes. Some are in groupings–Black Santas on-the-beach, Black Santas with Mrs. Claus, dreaming, dancing, sleeping, you name it.
I was just thinking…, what would inspire someone to begin such a collection?
The collector said she grew up poor, the oldest of five in Shreveport, Louisiana, and Christmases were extremely meager. As an adult, the holiday became special. She has a pleasantly defiant attitude about her collection that continues to grow and that she refuses to downsize. Acquaintances compliment her good taste and quality displays, but Hamilton says some wonder when she’ll run out of space.
“If anyone is bothered, they don’t have to live here,” smugly declared the empty-nester who talks proudly about her four college-educated adult sons and eight grandchildren.
“I just love the idea of Santa and giving,” she said. “I know Jesus is the reason for the season…But when I saw my first Black Santa years ago, I flipped out and had to have it. I’ve been buying them ever since. A Black Santa is just special to me.”
She said she does not decorate outside the home, or for other seasons, and owns no pets. She has “spent thousands” on her collection and begins shopping around September. She sometimes bids for them on eBay and orders from designers and out-of-town retailers. She once posted her display on Facebook and got 1,300 likes and comments, she said.
Fred Dawson, a retired airline employee and her life-companion, accepts her Black Santa passion, she said, and helps entertain guests who come by yearly to view her display. The coronavirus prevented her from entertaining this year.
Neighbors Louis and Carolyn Peterson said they and their grandchildren “were just blown away” when they first saw the display last year.
“My first reaction was, ‘Where in the Sam Hill did she find all these Black Santas?’ ” said Louis Peterson. “I was just flabbergasted at the sheer number. They were everywhere. But they were not gaudy. It looked as if a professional had placed them.”
Carolyn Peterson said she and the grandkids also “were floored” by the numbers and that many were even animated. Next, she wondered where Hamilton stores them.
“How does she pull all that out every year and set it up and then how do you store it back?” Carolyn Peterson asked.
Hamilton said that’s the beauty of having grandkids who love to help her. Bedrooms and closets that grown kids no longer use now are dedicated storage. And when she finally decides to put Christmas away, her approach is straight-forward.
“Most of the Black Santas go back in their original boxes and into the attic. I undecorated the trees, leave them standing, wrap them in plastic, put them in the Christmas tree bedroom, and shut the door.”
Norma Adams-Wade is a veteran, award-winning Journalist, a graduate of UT-Austin and Dallas native. She is also one of the founders of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) and was inducted into the NABJ Hall of Fame. E-mail norma_adams_wade@yahoo.com
