Tina Dyck and Emma Ackworth colour while waiting for Santa to arrive at the Breakfast with Santa event Dec. 5 at the W.I.S.H. Centre in Chatham.
Getting up on a Saturday morning and going to work after an already long week may not sound appealing to some, but I didn’t mind this past weekend.
I had the pleasure of attending the Breakfast with Santa event at the W.I.S.H. Centre in Chatham.
Organized by East Side Pride and augmented with police and fire volunteers, this is always a great event. More than 300 people attended this year.
The kids are in a great, and cute mood. While in high spirits, they are also very attentive, as they don’t want to wind up on a certain someone’s naughty list!
There was the young lad who I noticed still had pancakes in front of him. Then emcee Chris McLeod said Santa would soon be walking through the door and that all the girls and boys should finish their breakfasts. That little guy double clutched his fork and polished off his meal in a heartbeat, his utensil a blur.
Or the little gaffer waiting in line to see Santa. It’s really important to see Santa, but the Christmas music playing from a nearby speaker was too hypnotic. He slipped away from his mother to walk right up in front of the speaker, look into it, smile, and start bouncing.
Armed with a green sweater vest and blinking red lights on his sneakers, he epitomized Christmas spirit.
And he got his mom over to dance with him as well!
I also glimpsed three young girls colouring away, pleasantly passing the time until St. Nick got there. One had a set of foam reindeer antlers proudly planted on her head; another a cute red bow.
Yes, Christmas spirit was certainly flowing Saturday.
And then Santa showed up with Mrs. Claus. They wound their way through the crowd, getting greeted like rock stars, taking the time to shake hands and greet folks before sitting in their chairs … at the front of a long line of parents and very happy children.
Yeah, it’s really tough using the term “work” when covering these kinds of assignments.
Thumbs up to East Side Pride for putting on the great event, and for the police and fire folks for volunteering.
Food for the senses
I finally sparked up the Big Green Egg on the weekend after too many days without barbecued food in our house.
It was just for some chicken breasts, served with rice, but this was long overdue. Sitting out there in the fading light, taking in the cool and quiet conditions, smelling the wonderful aroma emanating from the barbecue, I was reminded why we got the Egg in the first place. It’s not just cooking food, but the entire experience. Getting the Egg up to cooking temperature, and then adding the seasoned chicken, to enjoy the tranquility of the backyard, plus that smell! That’s just awesome.
Oh, yeah, the eating element is quite wonderful too.
Now, the next things I want to tackle revolve around my new pizza stone. I want to make soft pretzels and pizza this weekend. And I’m sure my daughter supports me in this effort, so I’ll have a welcome assistant.
