LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It’s only October, but in Julie Engelhardt’s house, you’ll see plenty of wrapping paper and see her wrapping gifts furiously. She’s known to those close to her as “Mrs. Claus.”

What You Need To Know

  •  A Louisville woman is collecting ornaments to hand out to senior citizens

  •  The woman dresses as Mrs. Claus and will visit long-term care facilities during the upcoming holiday season

  •  Her goal is to hand out an ornament to each senior she comes across

  • She began thinking of the elderly population in this area after her own mom entered an assisted living facility

“For the past 13, 14 years. I have been performing as Mrs. Claus,” Engelhardt said.

She started in California, mostly for story time to promote literacy.

After moving to Kentucky, over the years, many have sought her out as Mrs. Claus.

“My mom is out in California and I’m 2,000 miles away here in Louisville, Kentucky,” Engelhardt said.

Even though there’s a huge physical distance, emotionally it’s like they’re next to each other.

“And it’s just difficult when you have an older parent that you can’t get out to see very often,” Engelhardt said.

After her father’s death in 2022, her mother moved into an assisted living facility.

“You know, you just think about them (senior citizens) being there all the time and not that it’s a bad place per se, but again, you kind of start to realize that these people, they can’t get out. They can’t just jump in a car and go do what they want to do like they used to do. And that’s very hard for them, I think, at times to accept,” Engelhardt said.

Inspired by her mom, she began thinking of the population of older adults in the area.

“You think of Santa (Claus) or Mrs. Claus being characters or people who will go visit children readily, you know, schools, daycares, libraries, what have you. But then you have this kind of I guess you could put it - this to me, kind of this forgotten population,” Engelhardt said.

So she’s taking action.

“Plastic, wood. You know something like this would be good like that. That’s pretty sturdy. That’s pretty cute,” Engelhardt said while she shopped at a Louisville shop called Tickled Pink.

In her upcoming visits this holiday season with seniors, she’s gifting them ornaments. 

“I just want to bring some joy to these people who may not have a lot of visitors or who might feel a little sad during the holiday season because they’re not in the home where they grew up or where they had their families and their own kind of a strange place,” Engelhardt said.

So she’s hunting at the shop and collecting ornaments from anyone who’d also like to donate.

“You have a lot of people who have either dementia or Alzheimer’s, and you don’t know how much they’re remembering. But sometimes there might be something I will talk about or a song that I’ll sing like White Christmas or bring out an ornament or have a certain scent, and that might trigger some memories and bring them a little bit of joy and kind of bring,” Engelhardt said.

Her goal is to spread joy one ornament at a time.

“(I) figure everybody deserves a present on Christmas,” Engelhardt said.

If you would like to donate ornaments, email Julie at jengelha@aol.com.

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