Arkansas couple owns hundreds of Santa Claus figurines

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV/FOX 13) - A Christmas gift turned into a lifelong hobby – and hundreds of new decorations.

Marty Shaufele gave her husband, Mike, a Santa figurine for Christmas in 1982, and the Arkansas couple have been collecting them ever since. Now, they own around 400 Santa figurines. The decorations go up every year, and it takes days to set up all of the figurines.

“It’s sometimes hard to figure out what a man wants for Christmas, and I thought I needed to buy him something he can collect,” Marty explained to KTHV. “All the Santas that we have and all the ones that people have given to us, we have never gotten the same Santa.”

The couple, who have been married for nearly 48 years, said the deocrations bring happiness into their home.

“We bought them all over the United States,” Mike said, “and then our friends, when they traveled…they would go and find them.”

Marty and Mike said they plan to continue growing their collection.