It begins to look a lot like
Christmas in the Buchholz house when the vintage plush Coca-Cola Santas come
out.
Karleen Buchholz of Dunwoody, Ga., estimates she has about 30 of the rosy-cheeked dolls, made by the Rushton Company of Atlanta and first given out byCoca-Cola bottlers as promotional items in 1957. She brings
them out every December and places them around her Christmas tree, which is
also filled with Coca-Cola -themed ornaments.
Karleen and her husband John have been collecting Coke memorabilia for 39 years, but it’s the winter holidays that bring out some of their most prized items. Ceramic Santas and polar bears dance to "Jingle Bells" and other holiday tunes. Cookies are stored in a ceramicCoca-Cola Santa Claus cookie jar with "the gift for
thirst" scrolled at the bottom. Her favorite ornament features Santa Claus
reading a letter perched below a Coke bottle on the fireplace: "Dear
Santa: Please Pause Here. Jimmy."
“Santa Claus andCoca-Cola go hand in
hand,” Karleen says.
Coca-Cola semi-trucks.
“To me,Coca-Cola is a huge
contributor of the joy of Christmas,” says Hendrik Botha of Pretoria, South
Africa. A Coca-Cola collector since 2000, Botha debuted a Coke-themed Christmas
tree in 2009 and it was such a hit that the holiday decorating just snowballed
from there. Check out Hendrik's Coca-Cola holiday decorations here:
The light-up Coca-Cola Christmas
trucks, artist Haddon Sundblom's Santa Claus illustrations, and the dancing
polar bears that play holiday music -- it all puts people in a festive spirit,
Botha says. His holiday collection includes oversized red Coca-Cola stockings,
vintage Season's Greetings advertisements in multiple languages, and dozens of
stuffed polar bears (including one sitting atop a tree holding a lighted red
star). In 2011 and 2013, Botha opened up the Coca-Cola -themed areas of his home
to the public during the holidays, asking visitors to bring a donation of
school stationery, which he gave to a rural elementary school.
"We advertised quite widely and had a huge response," he says.
Gary Cuyler of Hastings, Mich., loves hisCoca-Cola Christmas room so much that he leaves the decor up year-round.
Cuyler, a retired theater director and college professor, bought his first
Coca-Cola tray from a local supermarket at the age of 15. Christmas ornaments
soon followed and now he has a Coca-Cola room in his house trimmed in red and
green and filled with trays, glasses, revolving light-up mobiles, and a 10-ft. tree "totally covered" in Coca-Cola ornaments and strung with several
different types of Coca-Cola Christmas lights. Explore Cuyler's Christmas collection here:
There's also a multi-piece Coca-Cola
Town Square Village Christmas collection, accrued individually over time by his
mother, and presented to him at Christmas years ago. "That one is my
favorite," he says. His mother passed away soon after, and "that
village gives me the best memories."
Collector Robin Cillo, of Williamsport, Pa., also singles out a favorite gift in her own hugeCoca-Cola
holiday collection--an ornament, given to her by her mother in the 1970s, of
Santa Claus pushing a two-wheel cart holding four bottles of Coke.
"It was my first ornament," she says. Before that, she had trimmed her tree with key chains and stuffed animals. Now she has more than 300 ornaments — all with aCoca-Cola theme — as
well as stockings, dozens of Coca-Cola Christmas Village pieces, and a giant
inflatable polar bear holding a bottle of Coke.
For Cuyler, the most rewarding part of all the work he puts into decorating is witnessing the reaction of his guests when they see his holiday extravaganza. On Christmas Eve, his nieces and nephews and their families traditionally come over and soon head downstairs to theCoca-Cola room, where they are greeted by a tree ablaze with lights,
whirring ceiling mobiles, dancing Santas, and a three-foot-tall LED Coke bottle
on ice.
“I usually walk in ahead because it’s so much fun to see their faces. Their eyes usually get large and they break out into these big grins,” Cuyler says. "Half the fun is seeing that joy."
Karleen Buchholz of Dunwoody, Ga., estimates she has about 30 of the rosy-cheeked dolls, made by the Rushton Company of Atlanta and first given out by
Karleen and her husband John have been collecting Coke memorabilia for 39 years, but it’s the winter holidays that bring out some of their most prized items. Ceramic Santas and polar bears dance to "Jingle Bells" and other holiday tunes. Cookies are stored in a ceramic
“Santa Claus and
Click here for a full-screen image gallery of the Buchholz home.
Collectors from Michigan to South Africa take similar delight in displaying their own unique Christmas-themed Coca-Cola items during the holidays. Some keep it simple with classic red-and-white ornaments and glasses etched with Haddon Sundblom-drawn Santa Clauses. Others roll out thousands of items acquired over decades of collecting, from tree lights made of Diet Coke cans to a complete limited edition fleet of holiday-themed Speedway“To me,
"We advertised quite widely and had a huge response," he says.
Gary Cuyler of Hastings, Mich., loves his
Collector Robin Cillo, of Williamsport, Pa., also singles out a favorite gift in her own huge
"It was my first ornament," she says. Before that, she had trimmed her tree with key chains and stuffed animals. Now she has more than 300 ornaments — all with a
For Cuyler, the most rewarding part of all the work he puts into decorating is witnessing the reaction of his guests when they see his holiday extravaganza. On Christmas Eve, his nieces and nephews and their families traditionally come over and soon head downstairs to the
“I usually walk in ahead because it’s so much fun to see their faces. Their eyes usually get large and they break out into these big grins,” Cuyler says. "Half the fun is seeing that joy."
More on Journey
- Frozen Coke in a Squeezable Pouch? Only in Japan
- 2017 Global Innovation Award Winners
-
Building
Coca-Cola ’s Largest Digital Asset with More Than 1 Billion Views -
Launch and Learn:
Coca-Cola Zero Sugar™ Successfully Launched in 14 Western Europe Markets in Less than a Year - The Discipline of Growth — Exploring, Challenging and Leading with Brands to Accelerate Growth
COCA-COLA ON SOCIAL