Sheila Day 20
Today is one of my favorite days that we have at the college . . . Santa Clause Day!!! Many of the area head starts, schools, and daycares bring all of their kiddos on little orange school busses to the college. Once they get here, there are a variety of activities that are fun, messy, sticky, and little kiddo fingerprints are everywhere. I love kiddos and there is so much that we can learn from them.
Once the kiddos bombed in the door, they took of their coats, mittens, and hats, plopped them on the bench, and made their way to the activities led by teachers, our volunteers, and our Student Senate who sponsored the event. This little girl below was decorating her waffle cone like a Christmas Tree. She was so cute the way she carefully frosted the green onto the fragile tree. Each sprinkle was meticulously placed. She was so proud of her little tree, which was why I was so SHOCKED when she took that tree, opened her mouth wide open, and took the biggest bite I have ever seen a little kiddo take. Needless to say there was frosting and sprinkles all over her face along with a HUGE smile. I just giggled. Wouldn't it be nice if we could all just enjoy making a special treat, plastered with frosting, loaded with sprinkles, and then just enjoy that first bite with totally and utter joy!!!!
Last night I mentioned all of the cookies that were baked just for this occasion. They were a huge hit!!! The kiddos frosted them in a variety of colors and we stopped them as they attempted to lick the knifes! There was frosting and sprinkles EVERYWHERE! I loved watching them eat their treats and every one of them seemed to have a little different approach when they tackled their cookies. Some were so careful as not to mess their cookie too much and some ate as though Christmas cookies were going out of style. I loved the little boy that took 2 cookies and a massive pile of frosting with sprinkles was sandwiched between the two. You can guess how that little one ate his cookie! TOO CUTE!
One of the stations allowed the kiddos to make a chain out of pieces of red and green paper. There was a little girl that was sitting there alone and I spotted her from across the room. I made my way over as she had a totally different approach to making a chain that was TOTALLY creative. This little 4-year old appeared to be making petals for a flower. I wandered over, sat down, and watched her. She was BRILLIANT and in all of my years, I had never seen a child take a project like this to a whole different level. When she finished petals, I asked if I could take her picture. She politely told me that she was not done yet and that our glue really was not that good. Hmmmmmmmm. I actually DID laugh out loud! Then I watched as she put the flowers on a stem and then added leaves. I cannot tell you how much that little girl taught me in those few minutes we spent together. I will never forget her approach and her creativity! Way COOL!
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| Beautifully CREATIVE! |
My favorite part of the day is when Santa finally comes and the kiddos sit on his lap, whisper in his ear what they want, and ask questions that are totally cute. Never for one minute do they doubt the magic of Santa Clause. They believe that the man in the red suit has the ability to make their wishes come true. Even with the tape that held on the beard, and the black hair popping out of the hat, and the $15.00 Santa suit, the kiddos still believed that this man WAS the mystical one they dreamed of. I listened as many dreamt of trucks, wegos (Legos), and Dora dolls. Nothing elaborate or fancy and I found myself wishing, like many others there, that we could just go out and make their wishes come true. I learned today that we never have enough money to do some of the things that we dream of doing and so many kiddos just have very, very little. Sigh . . .
Sheila
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I love Mom's post today. Mom normally finishes writing before me, so sometimes I decide to read what she writes before I begin writing. I mean, it's kind of hard not to. I usually try to stick with whatever topic I originally planned on writing about, but today I had to switch it up a bit. Everything Mom said about her day with the kiddos had me reminiscing on a group of kiddos that I believe changed my life. So instead of writing about something I learned today, I'm going to share my experience where I found the joy in little kiddos.
In July of 2006 my family and several others in our church went on a youth mission trip to Lame Deer Montana helping out one the poorest Indian Reservations in the Nation. Although I do not remember specific details as this was almost 10 years ago, it was a life changing experience. We spent our week doing a number of activities to help out the community, but the one activity that has always stuck with me is when we went took a large group of local kids to play games, do crafts, and sing songs. It was such a blast! We could all tell that every little girl and boy just wanted to be hugged on and loved, so that was exactly what we did.
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| Ha! He knows what's up. |
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| These two were best friends and they were so cute!! |
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| This little girl stuck with the whole day. On the bus ride back, she asked if she could have my bracelet to remember me by. I gladly gave it to her. |
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| Such pretty girls! |
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| He's goofy, not sure about the two behind him . . . |
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| These three girly girls just had to snatch our sun glasses for a picture |
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| Dad made a great bus/van driver for us and the kiddos! |
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| I'm questioning why I didn't take her home. |
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| The kids tried teaching the chaperones how to dance their native dance. |
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| Everyone climbed on Jordan because he was as tall as a tree. |
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| Chelsie and I with a group of our lovely ladies. |
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| Have you ever seen such precious little gardeners? |
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| Mom has always been great with the kiddos. This picture reminds me that Mom is definitely working where she belongs. One day I hope to enjoy my job as much as she does. |
Sarah
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