Each year, we head down to the local Westfield to have the obligatory Santa photo taken. Or if I’m being a cheap ass, we’ll head to Domaine or Harvey Norman or somewhere else that is offering free Santa photos. Because, let’s face it, those photo packs aren’t cheap and sometimes they turn out crappy where one of the kids is screaming it’s head off, the other one is looking the other way and the Santa has that “is it wine o’clock yet?!” look on his face.
So when I got the invite to head up to the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney to experience the Swarovski Crystal Garden, let Annabelle have her photo taken with Santa and get to pat reindeer and huskies, I was not going to turn it down.
~Obligatory photo of the train trip up to Sydney~
Annabelle was excited to be going up to Sydney to see Santa but halfway through the train ride, she remembered just how long it takes to get there and started getting a little whingy. Thank Apple for angry birds, hey?
We were a little early so we stopped for breakfast at Gloria Jean and shared a ham and cheese croissant (noms!) and we had hot chocolate.
Then we headed to the QVB, which is gorgeous every day of the year but at Christmas time it is SO pretty, with fairy lights wrapped around the railings on every level.
The giant Swarovski Christmas tree stands at 24 metres tall and is covered with 144,000 Swarovski crystal ornaments and 60,000 twinkling lights. Right at the very top is a gorgeous Swarovski crystal star.
Can you believe that it takes 40 hours to install and decorate this tree by a team of 72 people?! Puts my little 6ft tree to shame 
We headed up to Level 2 and were greeted with this…..
The Swarovski Crystal Garden, a winter wonderland bathed in silver light and dripping with thousands of crystals, is inspired by 19th Century Victorian Christmas cards and designed to replicate the beauty of snow at the North Pole.
~Annabelle got to pat the most gorgous white huskies I have ever seen. They were so well behaved and friendly ~
~Annabelle got to pat and feed some adorable reindeer~
The crystals hanging from the roof of the Garden were SO pretty. This photo doesn’t do it any justice at all. And I want to do this when we add a little gazebo to our back garden. But maybe with glass beads. Because, you know, Swarovski crystals cost a bit more than glass beads…..
When it was our turn, we headed into the Crystal Garden and met one of the lovliest Santas I have seen in a while. And the beard was all his!! I was a little concerned because we didn’t have much luck with Annabelle sitting on Santa’s lap last year but I didn’t need to worry.
As the fairy and Mrs Claus organised the huskies, Annabelle sat on Santa’s lap and had a nice little chat with him about what she wanted for Christmas.
Did you know that this is the very first time that Santa is taking up residence at the Queen Victoria Building?! How crazy is that?! The whole vibe of that gorgeous building and that fabulous Christmas tree just makes for the perfect place to get Santa photos taken!
This was the photo that I took of the scenery around Santa, sitting in his crystal-encrusted throne….
And after a couple of tries, the Photography team caught our perfect Santa photo….
Santa officially arrives on the roof of the Queen Victoria Building on Monday, November 28 and will be in residence every day up to (and including) Christmas Eve. For opening hours and portrait times, please visit the QVB website.
Oh, and the obligatory photo of the train ride home…..
Edited to add: I was just given the heads up that the huskies are not part of the Santa display and were only there for the media day. I apologise for any confusion.
Disclaimer: I was under no obligation to blog about visiting Santa at the Swarovski Crystal Garden at QVB but it was SO pretty and Annabelle really enjoyed it, so I wanted to share it with you all. A big thanks to One Green Bean for the invitation.
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