Yearly Santa Party!!!

When the Willoughby’s lived in California we would host a “Santa Party” every year at Christmas time.

Each year a dear friend of ours (Brian), a neighbor and volunteer fireman would play Santa for us. Parents would pre-wrap a Christmas gifts with their child’s name on them. They would deliver the gifts to me secretly. The day of the party I would take the gifts over to Brian’s home, he would shove them in Santa bags. We normally had approximately 30 kids each year, so our house was full and cheerful. Santa usually showed up 30 minutes after all the kids had arrived at our house. The kids would be playing and having fun, Santa would ring the doorbell and all the kids would stop immediately what they were doing and run to him. I would have a chair set up for him and he would call each child up one-by-one to have them sit on his knew and tell him what they wanted for Christmas.

Brian also played Santa for the Hilmar firehouse and we would normally have our Santa party the following weekend. Which meant that he would normally bring something to also give out to the boys and girls, some sort of goodie bag that was left over from the firehouse party. Usually oranges, candy canes, and some small toy.

When we first moved to Newberg I was so happy to be invited to a soon to be neighbors house for her Santa Party.

1. Because me kids could still be involved in a tradition at this joyous time of year
2. And secondly, because I can sit back and enjoy the party.

The 2009 Santa Party was smaller than mine, but just as fun. All the kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves and appreciated the gifts they received.