When Vonda Snow-Gregory was a little girl, her mother took her to see Santa at Miller & Rhoads department store in downtown Richmond. Going to see the “Legendary Santa” was a holiday tradition for many Richmonders from his debut in 1936 at Miller & Rhoads until the store closed in 1990. Tomorrow, Snow-Gregory will get to share a similar experience with three of her own children when they attend a holiday dinner at the Hilton Garden Inn Richmond Downtown, which is located at the site of the old Miller & Rhoads on East Broad Street.

Then there was the other predawn waiting line, the one for Legendary Santa at the Children’s Museum of Richmond. Candice Cobb of Chester and her family were dressed in thick jackets and wrapped in warm blankets in front of the museum’s door yesterday morning, the first in line to see Santa—for the 23rd year. “He’s the real Santa,“ explained Cobb, a 27-year-old pre-kindergarten teacher and cheerleading coach.

Only weeks before Christmas and all through the house
All the creatures were frantic, including the mouse.