Toy donations overflow from Santa's sleigh at Busch's

<p>Ethan Weston/News Tribune</p><p>Vera Kremer, 4, hugs Mrs. Claus on Saturday at Busch’s Florist and Greenhouse in Jefferson City. Kremer asked Santa for a “baby alive” toy.</p>

Ethan Weston/News Tribune

Vera Kremer, 4, hugs Mrs. Claus on Saturday at Busch’s Florist and Greenhouse in Jefferson City. Kremer asked Santa for a “baby alive” toy.

The tradition continues.

At Busch's Florist and Greenhouse, the sides of a red sleigh peek out from underneath a stack of overflowing toys. Next to the sleigh Saturday, Santa and Mrs. Claus took pictures with children and smiled and waved to customers as they browsed the store.

Reid Millard, owner of Busch's Florist and Greenhouse and Millard Family Chapels funeral services, started the Marine Corps Toys for Tots Foundation drive at Busch's in 2018 in honor of his late sister, Mary Jane Wehr, whose Christmas tree overlooks Santa's sleigh in the greenhouse each year.

The Christmas tree, decorated in red ribbon and various Christmas-colored ornaments, was just one of Mary Jane's Christmas trees she left up at her house year-round.

During Christmastime, Mary Jane always had presents to give her children and grandchildren, children she babysat and children at the funeral home.

"Her biggest thrill was Christmas," Millard said. "She started planning for the next year on the 26th. It was all about Christmas and making people happy."

Each year, the sleigh fills with toys to spread holiday cheer to children and families in need. Members of the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation bring a box every year for the toys -- but the sleigh, conveniently set up in the shop, quickly became an alternative donation box as the cardboard box isn't big enough.

Knowing how much this cause meant to Mary Jane, the filling of the sleigh means a lot to her family, including her little sister, Shelly Wehr Davis, who helps kick off the season each year by bringing in a trunk-load of toys in memory of her sister.

"My sister always gave to kids no matter if she knew them or not," Wehr Davis said. "Even when I cleaned out her apartment, I found toys. That was her main thing - making sure kids had something for Christmas."

At Mary Jane's funeral in 2018, the staff decorated 10 Christmas trees and set them up in the chapel, and many people donated toys to children in need by placing them under the Christmas trees.

"People brought toys starting when we had her service, and then I've just picked up where she left off and have been buying toys every year for the kids," Wehr Davis said.

Millard said the Marine Corps Toys for Tots Foundation has more families asking for presents this year than in past years, so she hopes people will stop by and drop off an unwrapped gift. The toy drive ends Dec. 8.