SANTA AND ME
Norwalk couple creates space for contactless photos
NORWALK — The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted many holiday traditions this year, including children sitting on Santa’s lap for a customary photo. To change that, Norwalk residents Sandy and Robert Timmons created a fake living room scene on their front yard for the city’s families to pose with a mannequin Santa.
The scene is complete with a stool next to Santa for visitors to sit and pose for a photograph. The lights turn on at the Timmons’ home on Ells Street each night around 4:30 p.m., Robert Timmons
said.
“My wife is a really good decorator and she pays attention to the fine details, and I’m the grunt work,” said Timmons, a seventhgrade math teacher in Darien. “She tells me what she wants, and I make and build it.”
Timmons shared the holiday scene on a Norwalk Facebook page and a Nextdoor forum, inviting locals to pose with the mannequin, and asking they respect the set and refrain from touching anything due to COVID-19 concerns.
This isn’t the first time the couple has created an elaborate holiday display on their property — they’ve been putting up spooky scenes with different themes each Halloween since 2003. The first Halloween display was a recreation of a scene from Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean, Timmons said.
For this year’s display, themed after the 1960s television show “The Munsters,” Timmons constructed the wooden structure that would later act as Santa’s living room.
After Halloween, Timmons said the couple was unsure what to do with the large wooden structure, until they learned traditional meet-and-greets with Santa Claus would not take place this year.
“I was like, ‘What’re we going to do with that thing?’ and she (Sandy Timmons) said, ‘Let’s burn it,’” Timmons said. “But hearing kids can’t sit on Santa’s lap we said we have to do something.”
Santa’s living room was set up a few days after Thanksgiving and will likely stay up until New Year’s Day, Timmons said.
Many of the decorations used for Santa’s living room were already owned by the couple, as they store their extensive holiday decorations collection in the attic, Timmons said.
“We have all the supplies pretty much at home, but it took a couple weekends to put together,” Timmons said.
For the first time this year, the Timmons are also using their festiveness to raise funds for a good cause. A bucket is placed near the entrance to the Christmas scene where residents can leave a donation.
Timmons said the couple is not sure where they will be sending the donations, but are considering giving to the Animal Welfare society in New Milford.
“Everything we do is about bringing joy to everybody,” Timmons said. “We’re doing this because we love Norwalk and we want people to be happy and bring some joy into some people’s lives.”