Santa Claus is coming to town … about a week early.

Oakdale’s ‘Christmas House’ on North First Avenue will welcome Santa on Monday, Dec. 18. The house is one that is decked out for the holiday season and there is also a special mailbox for Letters to Santa set up. A sign on the lawn indicates Santa’s arrival at 7 p.m. on Dec. 18.

Organizing the effort is the husband-wife team of Charles Taylor and Jessica Brennan.

“My mom and dad started doing this in the early 2000s, they started decorating and making their own stuff,” Brennan said of her parents.

Though her mom, Janice, passed away a few years ago, the family – including Jessica’s dad James – have continued the tradition.

“She had really always wanted Santa to be there,” Brennan said of her mother, and so that was added in, Santa Claus joining the event in recent years to pose for photos and greet youngsters.

“It is just a whole family thing,” she noted of various relatives helping out with the preparations.

All are welcome to come to the house at 530 N. First on Monday to deliver their letter, pose for a photo with Santa, enjoy some cookies and share the holiday spirit.

“Santa and Mrs. Claus also hand out candy canes,” added Charles Taylor. “Also anyone that comes and drops a letter in Santa’s mailbox before Dec. 20 will get an answer.”

Letters must include a return address; those that do will get a response from Santa, Taylor said.

Brennan explained that she and her dad continue to work on new decorations, trying to add something each year, and many of them are homemade.

“I love Christmas,” Brennan said of hosting the pre-Christmas get together, one week ahead of the actual holiday. “It’s one night every year and we see a lot of family and friends.”

Taylor said it’s fun seeing the kids return year after year, growing up, and he said now they are starting to see those who were there as kids at the beginning of the Christmas House visiting now as adults, some with children of their own.

“It’s a fun evening, we get to see everybody and celebrate, it’s a time that everybody can come enjoy without the stress of the holidays,” Taylor explained.

And while there are many homes throughout the community that are all decked out for Christmas, including one just a couple of doors away down the street on North First, Taylor said the more the merrier. There isn’t any competition, he added, between them and the nearby neighbor, who also has Christmas decoration taking up the majority of their yard.

“We only do Halloween and Christmas,” Taylor said. “They go all out and have something for every holiday. They’re amazing and the nicest neighbors.”

It was a few years ago that Brennan and Taylor moved into the North First Avenue home; as Brennan’s mother had passed and her father now lives in Farmington. But they all come together for the pre-Christmas celebration, which gets underway at 7 p.m. and runs through about 9 p.m.

“It’s just a simple, joyful Christmas,” said Brennan.