Ward Party & Santa

I love ward parties. Especially Christmas ward parties. Yummy food. Delicious desserts. Happy familiar faces. Beautiful music playing in the background, thanks to Florence Romney. She heads the ward orchestra every year. Yes – you heard me. Not just one or two, but forty or so who play string instruments in our ward. And, we sound quite good too! This year, she put together a jr. high/high school orchestra (band included) for the party so we were able to sit back, relax, and enjoy! (Well, in between cleaning up spills.) Then, just as we were finishing up the last of the eight to ten desserts we had each sampled, Santa Claus arrived! The children all lined up to sit on his lap and the parents stood around with their cameras hoping to capture the moment!

Here is James asking Santa for a Lego set and a new baby. At least, that is what James told me he asked Santa for.

Thomas was feeling a little old for Santa's lap. (What??? I have a child who feel's too old for Santa's lap???) In fact, he almost didn't go up until he realized that was the only way he was going to score a bag of goodies! At least the bags of treats are better now than they used to be when I was growing up! It was always full of peanuts with an occassional wrapped, chewy mint with the Christmas tree on it - yuck. And, maybe a candy cane. And an orange.

Thomas also had to let Santa know what he wanted for Christmas - a personal helicopter. A real one, mind you. This must be why I heard Santa's jolly "ho-ho-ho!" echo through the gym as he was handing Thomas his treats!

I specifically remember asking for an Annie doll and balloons one year. That is all I wanted. Times must have been a lot more simple back then. Back before kids were demanding helicopters and babies!