Santa Clara's Swiss Christmas Is Only a Few Years Old, and It Depends on Neighbors Who Volunteer Their Windows

At 7 p.m. on December 1, 2024, the window at Dutchman's Cookie Co. was unveiled to a waiting crowd. Lisa Frei's grandchildren were dressed up and handing out cookies. As St. George News reported, that reveal opened the third annual Adventsfenster, a run of Christmas windows unveiled one per night through December 24.

Count back from that "third annual" and you get 2022. Samichlaus Abend, the Swiss Santa Night held across from Town Hall, began in 2020 according to the city, which billed its 2025 edition as the fifth annual. Both of Santa Clara's Swiss holiday customs date only to the early 2020s. They exist because a few people decided the town's Swiss roots should show up in December too. And at least one of them only works if enough neighbors volunteer to decorate a window every year.

The Group Behind the Windows Has Done This Before

Adventsfenster is run by the Santa Clara Historical Society, not by the city. Sherri Anderson, who heads both the society and the Santa Clara History Museum, has been with the group since it was founded about 35 years ago.

St. George News tells how the society began. A group of women set out to stop the planned demolition of two historic buildings, the Relief Society House and the Gubler Home. They didn't have the money to buy them outright, so they started Swiss Days, and each year's proceeds helped cover the balloon payment that came due after the festival. The group ran Swiss Days for about 15 years. Once it grew too big for them to manage, they handed it to the city. They also raised the money to open a museum in the basement of the city office in 2012.

So Adventsfenster follows a pattern the society has repeated for decades. A volunteer group takes the town's Swiss background and turns it into something people can turn up for. The background is real. In 1861, Brigham Young sent several hundred families to Santa Clara to grow cotton, most of them Swiss immigrants who had joined the church in Switzerland. When a flood wiped out the original settlement weeks after they arrived, the Swiss settlers stayed while most of the missionary scouts moved on. The December customs are new ways of marking a long history.

One Rule, Twenty-Four Hosts

In Switzerland, Adventsfenster windows often feature detailed paper-cut silhouettes, Anderson told St. George News. Santa Clara has just one guideline: keep it Christmas.

That loose format is what lets so many hosts take part. A home with one front window can join as easily as a business with a storefront. Anderson described the range to St. George News:

"It's whatever you can dream up, and it's been some really fabulous windows. Some are really simple, and others are really complex, but it's all fun to see something new every day."

The same report says some hosts add refreshments or live entertainment while others just pull back the cover. Past reveals have included live quartets, carolers, cookie giveaways and visits from Santa for photos.

The city's description puts the format simply. Homes and businesses across Santa Clara unveil their windows one by one, each at 7 p.m., from December 1 through December 24. Each night adds a window to the ones already up, so by Christmas Eve the whole calendar is on display around town. The windows stay up for public viewing through New Year's Day.

Getting the Schedule Before December 1

There's no single venue, so the schedule matters more than for most holiday events. The windows are spread across town at different addresses every year. In past seasons, residents found them through a few channels:

1. The printed flyer. In 2024, St. George News pointed readers to a digital flyer listing each night's date and address, and to paper copies at Dutchman's Market and Dutchman's Cookie Co.
2. The museum's page. Details and upcoming unveilings were posted on the Santa Clara History Museum's Facebook page.
3. City and society social accounts. The city's 2025 Adventsfenster notice sent residents to @santaclarautah and @santaclarauthistorical for updates.

According to the 2024 coverage, you can walk up to a window or just drive past. Since earlier windows stay up through New Year's Day, a missed reveal still leaves a window to see later. Only the 7 p.m. moment itself happens once.

The flyer is also the best measure of how much the tradition depends on volunteers. Twenty-four nights means 24 hosts. The museum's Facebook page, where the society posts the unveilings, is the most direct way to reach the people who put that list together.

December 6, When the Two Traditions Meet

Samichlaus Abend is the one December event the city runs itself, and it's where the two traditions overlap. The city says it's held each year on December 6, the traditional start of the Christmas season in Switzerland, on the grass across from Town Hall at 2603 Santa Clara Drive.

The 2025 announcement for the fifth annual event listed what came with it:

• Samichlaus and his helper Schmutzli, carrying burlap sacks of oranges, peanuts and Swiss chocolate
• Warm donuts and hot chocolate through the evening
• A limited-edition ornament for $10, while supplies lasted, which the city says many families collect each year
• The annual tree lighting
• A Town Hall Advent window unveiled for the evening

St. George News coverage of the 2023 event described Schmutzli as a dark, hooded companion who guarded Santa and handed children traditional Swiss treats. In 2025, December 6 fell on a Saturday, and the city's November 2025 newsletter listed the event from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., with the tree lighting at 7.

That 7 p.m. timing put the tree lighting at the same hour as every Adventsfenster reveal. Town Hall's own window was part of the night. For one evening, the society's spread-out calendar and the city's single gathering happened in the same place.

This year, December 6 falls on a Sunday. The city's page says the event happens "every year on December 6th," and last year's announcement went up on December 4, two days before the event. Check the city's events page in early December for this year's date and time before planning around it.

The Season at a Glance

The November market uses the same Town Hall lawn a few weeks earlier. Children sell their own products and services there, from slime and soaps to lemonade and lawn care, and booth spots are reserved through a form linked from the city's fall events post. The first Adventsfenster window goes up two and a half weeks later, and the 2026 schedule should come from the same people who have run the count since 2022.

Traditions like Adventsfenster are part of what a Santa Clara address comes with. If you're thinking about what a home here means for your own Decembers, or how to present a Santa Clara property in the months ahead, reach out to Nikole Andersen Real Estate. Contact Nikole for a complimentary market consultation.