A Visit from
Santa
Six winters. Six woodland animals. One gentle giant in a red robe, lantern in hand, stepping quietly through the snow — a guest they'll never forget.
A Quiet Night in the Winter Woods
The premise of A Visit from Santa is simple and perfect: what if the forest animals got a visit from Santa too? Not the rushed, chimney-climbing, sack-dragging Santa of Christmas Eve — but Santa in his long red robe, lantern swinging gently at his side, taking a quiet walk through the winter woods and stopping to say hello.
Launched in 2009, the series ran for six years before completing in 2014. Each year introduced a different woodland animal as Santa's companion — a pair of owls, a fawn, a bunny, a red fox, a squirrel, a raccoon — each one wide-eyed and attentive in the presence of this unexpected visitor. The mood across all six ornaments is the same: still, gentle, luminous. These are not action scenes. They are pauses — small quiet moments of connection between the wild world and the most magical figure in the human imagination.
The series was designed and sculpted by Tammy Haddix, one of Hallmark's most beloved Keepsake Artists, and it shows her at her most lyrical — each piece feeling less like a manufactured ornament and more like a small illustration from a children's book about Christmas that deserves to exist.
"A completed series like this one is a rare gift for collectors — every ornament is still out there to be found, and the full set tells a complete story."
— Already Christmas
Owls (2009) · Fawn (2010) · #3 (2011)
Tammy Haddix — The Artist Behind the Series
Tammy Haddix has been telling Hallmark she'd work there since she was five years old, when a visit to a Hallmark store with her mother left her so impressed by the artwork that she declared her intention on the spot. She was right. Today she is one of the Keepsake Studio's most distinctive voices — whimsical, precise, emotionally warm, with a signature touch of glitter that has become her calling card across dozens of series and standalone ornaments.
A Visit from Santa shows a quieter, more contemplative side of her work. These six ornaments have none of the playful chaos of her candy-themed pieces or the miniaturist intricacy of her A World Within series. Instead they are still — thoughtful compositions of Santa and animal, lantern light and winter snow, rendered with a tenderness that makes them feel genuinely timeless. It is the kind of series that reminds you why Hallmark's Keepsake line, at its best, is a form of folk art.
Haddix draws constantly from her family and her personal life. Her mother — an artist herself — was the first to recognize her talent, protecting the crayon drawings her daughter made on the kitchen walls and closets when she was a small child. That childhood sense of art as something worthy of being saved and honored lives in everything Tammy makes. Each of these six ornaments feels like something worth keeping.
#5 — The Squirrel (2013)
Santa crouches down in the snow, lantern casting a warm glow, to meet a small squirrel at eye level. It is the most intimate of the six encounters — not Santa towering over a woodland creature but Santa making himself equal to it. Something about the gesture — that willingness to stoop, to be present, to meet a small thing on its own terms — captures what the whole series is quietly about. Of all six ornaments, this one tends to be the one collectors point to first.
Shop #5 — The Squirrel →A Different Animal Every Year
Each year from 2009 to 2014, Santa met a different woodland creature in the winter forest. Together the six ornaments form a complete bestiary of Christmas — a record of every animal patient enough to wait in the snow for the most generous visitor of all.
The Red Fox — #4 (2012) · The Squirrel — #5 (2013)
The Generosity of Noticing
Every ornament in this series depicts the same essential moment: Santa pausing. Not delivering, not rushing, not filling stockings. Simply stopping — in the cold, in the dark, with his lantern — to be present with a creature that most people walk past without seeing.
That is what makes A Visit from Santa unusual in the Keepsake catalog. Most Christmas ornaments celebrate abundance: gifts, trees, light, family. This series celebrates something quieter — the act of noticing. Of seeing a small thing in the snow and deciding that it deserves your full attention, even on the busiest night of the year.
For gardeners, birdwatchers, nature lovers, and anyone who has ever slowed down enough to watch a fox cross a field or an owl turn to look at them — these ornaments feel like a private recognition. This series knows what they know: that the world is full of small, extraordinary encounters, and the only thing required to have them is the willingness to stop.
Decoration Tips
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01Display at eye level. The detail in these ornaments — Santa's robe, the animal's expression, the snow at their feet — is best appreciated up close. Hang them on branches where a visitor can actually stop and look.
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02Warm white lights are essential. These ornaments are all lantern light and winter warmth. Warm white fairy lights recreate that golden glow against the snow; cool white or colored lights flatten the mood entirely.
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03Group them as a woodland corner. All six displayed together on adjacent branches create a miniature winter forest — six different animals, six different moments, one continuous story.
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04Pair with natural materials. Sprigs of evergreen, pinecones, birch bark — the series' woodland aesthetic is complemented beautifully by natural decorations. These ornaments belong in a naturalistic tree, not a glittery one.
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05Perfect gift for a nature lover. Each ornament depicts a specific species. Matching the right animal to the right person — owls for a birdwatcher, foxes for a fox-lover — makes this one of the most thoughtful possible gifts in the Hallmark catalog.
Display Tips
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01The full set of six is achievable. This is a completed series with a defined beginning and end. All six ornaments are out there to be found — and displaying them together tells the complete story of Santa's six winters in the woods.
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02Display in chronological order. Owls (2009) through Raccoon (2014) — displayed in sequence, you can trace Santa's quiet progress through the forest year by year. It rewards the collector who knows which came first.
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03The 2013 Squirrel (#5) is the collector's favorite. Ask any collector to name their favorite from this series and it tends to be the squirrel — that crouching Santa, the intimacy of the encounter. If you can only start with one, start here.
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04Shadow box display brings them to life. Mounted in a shadow box with a layer of cotton batting for snow and small evergreen sprigs, all six ornaments become a diorama that can be displayed year-round — not just at Christmas.
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05Keep the original boxes. The packaging for each piece is carefully designed and should be preserved. In-box condition is the collector's standard, and protects the sculptural detail on these delicate pieces.
All 6 Ornaments — 2009 to 2014
Click any ornament to shop. The full set is out there — start collecting today.
Six winters. Six animals. Six quiet moments in the snow with the most generous visitor the forest has ever seen.
The full set is out there. All six are waiting.
✦ Part of our Series: Hallmark Keepsake Official Series, Explored ✦