Every December our Candlewood Lions Club throws a Christmas party at a local firehouse for the special needs children of Green Chimneys, a residential school. It\u2019s a blast! <\/p>\n
I dress like an elf and help Santa pass out presents to the kids. There\u2019s also a magician, a lunch buffet, even a tour of the firehouse. But driving there last year, I was in a panic. We had exactly 40 presents to give\u2013enough for the children we usually expected. Not enough for the 60 we\u2019d just heard would be coming. Too bad the real Santa Claus wasn\u2019t around.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s too late to buy more<\/em>, I thought. The kids will be here soon!<\/em> For some, those were the only gifts they\u2019d receive all season. Lord, what are we supposed to do now?<\/em><\/p>\n Dejected, my husband and I parked the car and walked up the hill to the firehouse. Another man got out of his car at the same time and walked alongside us. When we got to the front door, he looked confused. \u201cIsn\u2019t the vote here today?\u201d he asked us. I knew there was a special referendum up for a vote\u2013but it wasn\u2019t being held here.<\/p>\n \u201cNot at this firehouse. We have a Christmas party today,\u201d I answered. The man shook his head. \u201cI don\u2019t know why I thought it was here,\u201d he said. He looked at us. \u201cIf you\u2019re here for a party, why the long faces?\u201d<\/p>\n I told him our problem, even if I was a bit too worried to chit-chat. How could we send a child home without a present?<\/p>\n \u201cHow many toys you need?\u201d the man asked. \u201cI may be able to help.\u201d How?<\/em><\/p>\n With minutes to spare before the children arrived, the man burst through the door, his arms overflowing with bags of toys. Hurriedly, we piled them on tables and covered them with tablecloths awaiting the moment when our Santa would reveal the gifts. The children were ecstatic. One girl picked an Easy Bake Oven, something she\u2019d wanted for years. \u201cThis is the best Christmas ever!\u201d rang throughout the room.<\/p>\n We needed a Santa Claus. We were sent Major Tom Quigley\u2013of the local Marine Toys for Tots program, who had already collected all the presents we needed to give the kids an unforgettable Christmas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Every December our Candlewood Lions Club throws a Christmas party at a local firehouse for the special needs children of Green Chimneys, a residential school. It\u2019s a blast! I dress like an elf and help Santa pass out presents to the kids. There\u2019s also a magician, a lunch buffet, even a tour of the firehouse. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26469,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[2064],"class_list":["post-15542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gods-grace"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n