Welcome to Farley’s Christmas Wonderland website. We are a walk-in Christmas display located in the midtown of Santa Cruz, CA. Our exhibit is very traditional: lots of Christmas trees, garlands, sleighs, an elf village, miniature village’s, and a log cabin that Santa uses for his rest stops. Being Irish, where you have elves you have fairies and we have a fairy grotto with 2 waterfalls and fairies that can be viewed on special nights. Also, on those special nights, it snows here.

Unlike all other Christmas displays where you drive by, we are a walk-in, where people will spend time sitting on the bench in the Fairy Garden looking and listening to the waterfall or sitting in the rocking chairs in the log cabin in front of the fireplace. If you bring small kids especially little girls, do not expect to be leaving soon. When they discover Lucy’s house – you’re not leaving.

During the Christmas holidays a lot of people travel and  where ever they go the one thing all travels want to see are Christmas decorations – they want to see how people in that country celebrate and decorate for Christmas. And every year we get more travelers from all over the world who are visiting the San Francisco Bay Area or the Monterey Bay.

You can see us on ABC and Hulu, in the Dear Santa Series (2022). I’m in episode 5.  This a link watch it on ABC:    https://abc7ny.com/usps-operation-santa-christmas-wishes-dear-letters/12520382/

NOTICE:     We will be closing at 8pm now thru New Years.

Christmas miracle??!! I started setting up for Christmas in September and on October 1, I was going to have help from volunteers, except, early that morning I was awakened with the worst headache I’ve ever had – so I called everyone and told them I couldn’t function. After 2 weeks of headaches that wouldn’t go away, my wife finally got me to go the emergency room, where I was given antibiotics and told if I wasn’t better in 2 days to go to their other clinic.

Returning, they gave me a cat scan and it was clean, no tumors etc and they sent me away. With the headaches still killing me, after numerous video visits with my doctor, 3 more emergency visits, 2 optometry, seeing 2 neurologist, 3 acupuncture, I finally got an MRI last Friday Dec. 8, at the VA hospital in Palo Alto. It took over an hour to get home and about 20 minutes later I get a call from one of the neurologists telling me to take a baby aspirin and that he has bad news. I didn’t have one stroke, I’ve had “2” strokes, the second one only about 4 days ago, which means I had a stroke approximately 24 hours before I saw the neurologist who tested/exam me and I passed with flying colors. Radiology contacted everyone immediately and no one saw it during my visits.

When the neurologist told me, I was not only shocked, but very excited yelling, ‘whoa, I had a stroke.’ This freaked the doctor out, he thought I was nuts being happy and then I told him, ‘ I’m alive and walking and talking and didn’t even know it happened. I’ve got friends who have had strokes to be bed ridden having someone change their diapers until they died and others who had to go thru therapy for years to be able to walk and talk again.’

Yesterday, I had blood work, given a heart monitor, and an EKG, which I passed with flying colors. Tomorrow, I’m back up to Palo Alto for another CT scan, with another MRI shortly and more appointments – doctor and neurology.

The mystery is why I haven’t show any signs of having strokes’ and how I’m still walking and talking and the other mystery is, what’s causing the headaches. The headaches vary from feeling like I got sucker punched or hit in the eyes with a baseball, to my brain feeling like it’s being kicked or burned. The only relief is 800 mg. ibuprofen, which will last 3 to 6 hours.

It started when I began setting up for Christmas and amazingly with help I pulled it off and we’re open. Is it a Christmas miracle that I was able to do it – I hate to count my blessings. I would have been bummed beyond belief if I wouldn’t have been able to open.

 

Department 56, who is a manufacturer that sells Christmas and holiday collectables world wide, recognized us as being one of the top 10 Christmas displays.

The “press” tab has links to newspaper and TV articles about us. View my blog for daily posts on hours and times, especially when there’s rain forecasted.

Check our hours and location page for daily updates. If it’s raining or a likely forecast, we do not open. Not all of our display is rain proof, such as flocked trees, wooden soldiers, animatronics, etc.

Parking: I recommend parking at the end of the Boardwalk and walk over the bridge (it’s lit up and it’s scenic). Walk up the pathway and we’re one block in or park down at the Rivermouth/East Cliff where’s there’s a number of parking spaces also.

The one thing I’m asking for is “donations”. It used to be our electric bill was where most of our money went, but now it’s storage and maintenance and when you look around you’ll see what our storage amounts to. This is is a year around job for me. Two months to tear down, 5 months of making and refurbishing, 3 months of setting up, and 5 weeks open.

We are open from Thanksgiving weekend to New Years day.

If you want to avoid the crowds, this is the week to come visit. The closer to Christmas, the more crowded it will be and that we are closed on rainy nights. So if you want to enjoy it, by yourself or with a few other people, come now.

This is our new 25′ tree, which we call The Rittenhouse. Thank you to the Rittenhouse’s for making this happen.

I want to thank the Rittenhouse’s, Farley Electrical, Gary’s Plastic, and Randy Gray Construction for their support and help.

We received our T-shirts and we will have them for sale.

contact: hueyak@cruzio.com