Mark your calendars: on Saturday, December 15, 2007 Santa is making a special pre-Christmas appearance! From 6:00 - 8:30pm at the Community Center at Sweetbriar Park, kids of all ages can visit with Santa, enjoy some cookies and punch, be entertained by our very own junior magicians, watch a Kids on the Block puppet show, and participate in some Christmas caroling and interactive play activities lead by the LOW Players.

This year we will be taking reservations for children to sit on Santa's lap.  Santa will be available from 6:00-7:00pm; 7:00-8:00pm and 8:00-8:30pm.  Reservation can be made by contacting Connie at 972-0083.

Please feel free to bring your own camera to capture this special event.

This Visit with Santa is sponsored by the Lake Youth Foundation in cooperation with the LOW Lioness and the LOW Players. 

On the evening of Saturday, December 9, Santa visited with over 100 children from Lake of the Woods at the Community Center.  Santa and his helpers visited with each child quietly in one of the meeting rooms which was decorated like a cozy room in a home. Parents had plenty of time to take pictures and watch as the children visited. Each child received a bell to remember to keep the Christmas spirit alive. After visiting with Santa, one grandparent said, “It was worth every second that we had to wait so that we could have such a wonderful visit with Santa.”

Meanwhile the LOW Players sang carols with children and ran an interactive play twice with the youngsters waiting in the Multipurpose room. While there, the children and their parents were treated to juice and cookies, which were baked by the LOW Lioness. Lots of crayons and coloring book pages kept many children occupied while they waited.

We would especially like to thank Hank Lewis, Lee Ann Hamilton, Pierce Crowell, and Joann Buttimer for volunteering to help out with the festivities.  And we owe a huge thank you to Stew Replogle who managed to get a lot of the action on video which was run on Channel 17 for a week. And thank you to Dan McFarland who gave us good coverage in the Orange County Review. One of the highlights of the evening came when youngsters from the November magic class demonstrated the skills they had learned from their YES class. We obviously have some budding magicians in our community. It was truly a wondrous night!

On Saturday, December 10th, in the lower level of the Clubhouse over 100 children took turns and sat on Santa’s lap to tell him Christmas secrets and wishes. While children and their parents waited in line, members of the LOW Players led the singing of favorite Christmas songs. After visiting with Santa, children and parents were treated to cocoa and cookies served by Lake Youth Foundation board members and several volunteers. The LOW Lioness went all out baking scrumptious, decorated holiday cookies for Santa’s visitors. Thank you!!! 

After most of the children had visited with Santa, the LOW Players read a rendition of “Twas The Night Before Christmas.” Over a dozen children participated in the interactive play by pretending to hang stockings, ride in an imaginary sleigh and act out other parts of the familiar story.