Monday, December 9, 2013

Santa Breakfast for Foster Families, from Barbie Dolls to Disney Princesses, it was spectacular

We had the opportunity to attend a really amazing event on Saturday. We attended the Santa Breakfast for Foster families, put on by our local Junior League. For three years I have called to RSVP only to be told there were no spots left. For years I have heard other Foster families talk about this breakfast, and how large of a production it is. This year we were lucky enough to go. Words nor pictures can do it justice. I took a few pictures but I have to be very careful to protect the privacy of all of the Foster kiddos at the event. I wish I had better pictures to share with you.


The breakfast starts at 9:15 with the arrival of Santa. Everyone is lined up outside the room to witness the arrival of Santa.


 At around 9:45 they open the doors and allow you to go to your table. Walking through the doors almost made me feel like a kid again. Three out of the Four walls inside that room were lined with Christmas trees. This was a large room (large enough to accommodate 500 people for this event), so I would say there were at least 30 Christmas trees. Each tree was not only decorated but had a theme complete with gifts. A good example was the Disney princess tree, it had a Disney princess table with four chairs in front of it, a princess bicycle, Disney movies, princess dolls and so much more, either on the tree or around the tree. Now imagine that with thirty trees. It was spectacular. Before breakfast each child is given a raffle ticket and they get to choose a tree to place that raffle ticket in. During the event the emcee (a local news reporter) raffled off all thirty trees. It was so neat to see the excited winners. The fourth wall was actually a stage where Santa spent his morning. Each child got to go up and sit with Santa and take a picture with him. After your visit with Santa you were ushered to a long table of books, (I am assuming donated by Scholastic Books) and every child got to pick out a book.


 Then you went back to your table to eat your breakfast. Each table was assigned a volunteer who guided you through the activities and made sure the mommys and daddys had continuous coffee, and that the kiddos had continuous hot cocoa. While you were eating breakfast your volunteer brings each child at the table a gift from Santa. Our girls each received two Barbie dolls, and our son received a Fisher Price toy phone.


 Then after breakfast your children are escorted to Santas workshop (without mommy and daddy) where they each get to pick out a gift for mommy or daddy, and then they get to wrap it. JayJay was so excited about this, that when they were done she came running to the table with her gift for mommy and immediately told mommy what was inside. So make mental note... JayJay is not the secret keeper in our family!


By the time we left our kids where pooped. Like I said, words do not do it justice. There were times I would look around the room at all of the commotion and think wow this is craziness. Then I would start to take it all in, this could easily be a 'first' Christmas experience for many of these kids. We had a special kiddo at our table who was eager to win one specific tree because it had gifts on it that he could give to his sister and his mom. Sad, because I realized that he and his sister were not in the same foster home. Every child there was beautiful, every child there deserves so much more than just a Santa Breakfast. A home, a stable home, a forever home.


10 comments:

  1. Wow, what a wonderful experience for all of you. Aunt Linda

    ReplyDelete
  2. What an Awesome and I am sure emotional experience! God Bless you guys!
    Opa

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow! What an amazing experience! -B

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow!! How incredible!! So happy you guys were able to go!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow.that is amazing. It must been wonderful to see the all of the smiling little faces. The generosity of the league is fantastic

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow.that is amazing. It must been wonderful to see the all of the smiling little faces. The generosity of the league is fantastic

    ReplyDelete

We Love Hearing From You!