Potted Scenery - Santa Claus is coming to town!

One friend of mine asked me to make a potted scenery having "Santa Claus is Coming To Town" theme.  He intend to give this small attention to his son (is 7 years old) as a reward for his hard working (he has learned a lot of poems and songs waiting for Santa Claus to come!) We were talking many times about the importance to teach your kid to love nature using a joyful miniature garden. What a perfect gift for small hands, sponge-brains and balloon-hearts.




This brings back childhood memories! Fred Astaire, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles,  Mariah Carey, Frank Sinatra, Andreea Bocelli... so many darn good storytellers and singers charmed my Christmas Nights with wonderful stories or singing " Santa Claus is Coming To Town" (the hit written by Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie).






You better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout
I'm telling you why

Santa Claus is coming to town

He's making a list
He's checking it twice;
He's Gonna find out
Who's naughty and nice

Santa Claus is coming to town

He sees you when you're sleeping
He knows when you're awake
He knows if you've been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake!

O! You better watch out!
You better not cry
Better not pout
I'm telling you why

Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town

Combing the town for some well designed miniature figurines with Santa Claus, I found this group (around 5 cm high) Santa and a small  kid sitting on a bench with his mother, or should I say ... joyful jumping on a bench:
-Mom, Look, It's here, It's here !!!

The "human presence" it is balanced perfectly by the dimension of the tray, 24 cm,  and the small Yew trees. 

Yew (Taxus canadensis ) is a conifer native to North America, very common in Vancouver area,  which grow as a sprawling shrub with dark green leaves. I thought it would be appropriate to use three conifers for this small tray landscape (known also as penjing, or saikei) with the theme of Santa Claus's arrival.
   

I used two big rocks, positioned next, rear-right centered,  to give the impression of viewing a peaceful highland, perfect spot for a sitting bench.
OK,, it is not the classic ... warm home, hot chocolate, Christmas tree, Santa coming down the chimney ... is more like ... Mam' , why-we-cannot-wait-for-Santa-here?!,... type of setting. You know ... you've done that too.

One of the trees with a sinuous trunk was planted at the interference of the rocks covering the sitting bench with its shadow.

 
Santa Claus is coming from the left side, the foreground being created by the bigest Yew planted in center-left of the tray. I covered with moss, accent plants and a small stick on which lichens grown in abundance, then I spread a layer of white perlite to make it snow.

Was kind of a challenging project but I am proud of the end result.

Click & drag to interact with the next 3D object movie.
If zoomed in, you can hold the SHIFT key to move the image with the mouse.



Pssst! Santa Claus is coming to town! It's almost here!