T-R PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM — Todd Egleston opens Santa’s Workshop in Meadow Lane Mall for the season. He has filled the role Jolly St. Nick for the last 20 years, and is a member of the “few and far-between” real bearded Santas.

Last weekend’s winter storm delayed the arrival of Santa Claus to Marshalltown, but he returned and opened Santa’s Workshop in Meadow Lane Mall on Friday.

Santa, aka Todd Egleston, decided to postpone the grand opening by a week because he did not want anyone to risk their safety just to visit him.

“I would feel bad,” he said. “I would hate to feel responsible for somebody to take themselves or a child out to come see me and get hurt. There’s plenty of time between now and Christmas to come see me.”

Now children can visit St. Nick in the space, tell him what they want for Christmas and take in the festive atmosphere created for the Workshop. Nutcrackers adorn almost every surface, along with Christmas trees and sleigh bells. The nutcrackers are Egleston’s own collection, and number in the hundreds.

He does not know what prompted the collection, but speculated it was his love of the nutcrackers which were in the Marshalltown Mall where he previously worked.

“I have them now, [except for the two 6-foot tall ones] and I’ve always liked their nutcrackers,” Egleston said. “I started getting my own nutcrackers to use on the set.”

For many years, Egleston’s oldest son Alex has said he will eventually get the large collection.

“Well, as of this year he said, ‘Dad, there is no way I have enough room for all these nutcrackers,'” he said.

The Workshop will also host another contest this year. Folks can guess how many nutcrackers are in there, and the winner with the closest number will receive their very own large nutcracker. Egleston’s wife, Lori, said this year they will also have prizes for the second and third closest guesses. The second place winner will receive a medium sized nutcracker and the third will get a small sized.

“Last year, we had 357,” she said and Egleston added “a lot” have been acquired in the past 12 months. “If you see a nutcracker, you count it. Such as if it’s in a book.”

Lori said they have a new game for people this year. There are four special ornaments hidden throughout the Workshop.

“If they find one, they need to come up to one of us and say they found an ornament,” she said. “Then we have special little baggies for them. Just thought we would try something different this year.”

For 20 years, Egleston has jollyly played the role of Santa, and said he will continue to do so until he’s no longer breathing.

“I love it,” he said. “I just love it, and with the collection I have, I might as well do something with it.”

Egleston said the hot ticket items children are asking for this year, based on what was requested during the Holiday Stroll, are related to video games.

“Santa is not tech-savvy,” he said, clearing his throat. “The kids are asking for a lot of things I’ve never even heard of before. It’s all the new tech stuff.”

Some examples Egleston has heard of include brands of smartphones and tablets, gaming consoles. It’s the requested games he had not heard of, such as Roblox.

“I suggest to the kids (that) I would rather give them toys they can move around, but I’m old,” he said, laughing. “A sled, board games, something other than video games where they don’t interact with other people. I want them to talk. When you go to a restaurant nowadays, when you see family, they’re not talking to each other. They’re playing on phones. Put away the phone and talk.”

Gesturing to the “elves,” Egleston said they are all family, who were “voluntold” to help with the Workshop. His son, Ben and new daughter-in-law, Nikki; his wife, Lori; and his sister-in-law Lisa Pieters are all on board in bringing the Santa to Marshalltown. They will get a bit of a break after this year, as they will not have to pack up and move all of the Christmas items for a while. Egleston said they previously only rented space in Meadow Lane Mall for one month, but will now be there for three years, saving Santa and his elves the annual task of transporting the Workshop.

“Picture packing all of this stuff up, moving it and storing it,” he said. “Even now I have two storage units full.”

Not having to contend with the task of moving, Egleston can place more focus on the children who visit him and make their requests.

“I’m now holding babies of grandkids I held as babies, which is cool,” he said. “A huge portion of the families come back every year. Real bearded Santas are getting few and far-between.”

SANTA’S WORKSHOP INFORMATION:

Location: Meadlow Lane Mall

Address: 1716 S. Center St.

Days: Friday, Saturday and Sunday

Hours: Weather permitting — 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., Fridays; 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., Saturdays; and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Sundays

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Contact Lana Bradstreamat 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or

lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.