White Oaks Christmas Party

It was chaos in building 201 today as 50 children from our community signed up to attend our first Christmas party and visit Santa. The lobby held tables of goodies from nearby stores and the library had rows of cookies for the children to decorate and wooden figures to colour and take home. Every child received a small loot bag upon arrival.

The children were very intent on their decorating, whether it was a wooden Santa or a snowman cookie. I managed to pull a couple of childrens' attention away from their crafts long enough to ask one question. What are you going to ask Santa for this year? Nine year old Maddie had a hard time answering this question. Once Santa arrived she finally decided on a brown stuffed dog. Good choice Maddie, they require a lot less walking and feeding. Her friend Mackenzie immediately announced she wanted a video game. Any video game would do. Tevon wanted a beyblade. I mentioned that my son asked for a metal Beyblade Fusion and his eyes lit; I'm guessing my son's not the only one.

The photo on the left is a shot of one of the youngest children at the party, Mackenzie's little brother Jonathan, enjoying one of the cookies his Mom helped him decorate.

 Here is Tevon holding two of the cookies he decorated. Both his Mom, Sharon, and Mackenzie and Jonathan's Mom, Penny, enjoyed the party. The crafts kept the kids entertained and there were cookies and snacks for all (including coffee... something most parents need by mid-afternoon).

There were several high school students in attendance, helping out with the children and gamely attempting to sing Christmas carols with me and another member of the White Oaks Community Group. The children, for the most part, ignored the singing. They'd join in for a favourite line or two then wander back to the craft tables. One young boy would have been happy if we sang nothing but Frosty the Snowman.

Eventually it came time for the main event. The man in red had been spotted and children were encouraged to head out to the lobby to wait for his arrival. A blanket was spread on the floor and the children settled to wait.

  They didn't have long to wait before Santa arrived with his "reindog" and a sleigh full of toys.

Santa had his beard pulled over his nose and wig pulled down to his glasses. I thought he looked like he was heading off to join the Witness Protection Program but the kids didn't seem to notice. It made sense as he had three small children of his own at the party and no one wants to hear "Hey! That's not Santa! That's my Dad!" at a children's Christmas party. Thankfully they sat on his lap, none the wiser.

Every child in attendance had a chance to sit on Santa's lap and have as long a chat as they wanted. Once they all had their turn, their names were called out and every child was given a present with their name. Several opened their presents right away but most seemed willing to wait until they got home.

Here's Mackenzie, presumably asking Santa for her video game. She seemed quite happy with the board game she received.

It was great that so many children and parents in our community were able to attend and wonderful that so many companies were able to help out with donations of food, drinks, and toys. Hopefully our next community event will turn out just as well.