When we were kids my older sister had cancer.
Since then we have been lucky enough to be a part of the Candlelighters organization. They offer services to families of children with cancer. It is great because you get to remain part of the organization even after you are done with treatment. over 15 years after my sister beat cancer we are still able to celebrate her life with
them and show families who are currently in the fight of their lives a success story. I like to think that my sister gives these families hope for their future.
One thing that they do every year is to throw a Christmas party for all of the families. I remember going to these as a teen and loving it so it was extra special to go now that we are grown and have kids of our own.
When you walk in you first go to the sign in area. They have name tags for you to wear as well as tickets for the kids to pick out a game or a movie, a water bottle, hand made blankets and lots of other cool stuff. They also hand you a bag with presents that have been personally selected for each child. Then you go find a table to sit at. While waiting for lunch to be served you can do art
projects, hang out with the character visitors, snack on candies, and visit with the other families.
The kids got clown noses and balloon animals from Bubbles the clown.
They got to talk to Cinderella. She was there to sing Christmas songs with the kids. While she was singing the MC handed Brenna a full size pillow pet for her to keep! She was in HEAVEN!
They also got to sit on Santa's lap. I think we can all agree that this isn't the REAL Santa (the brows give him away!) but I am sure he passed on all of the important information to the big guy.
Santa gave all of the kids a candy cane and a ticket to go pick out a stuffed animal. Brenna wasted no time choosing this purple Carebear. She instantly fell in love with it and still sleeps with it at night.
We had to leave before lunch was served because the kids needed naps before we went to see Toy Story 3 on ice (stay tuned for a blog post about that). We had a really great time and are always grateful for all that the Candlelighters do for our family. Each year in the summer my mom heads up a benefit golf tournament to raise money for this wonderful organization. It is a blessing to be able to help out families like ours and we pray that they will have the same outcome that Veronica had.
3 comments:
This looks like so much fun, Im glad the kids had a good time! They all looked so adorable with santa :)
What a great organization. Looks like the kids all had a fun time, but you are right about the Santa's eye brows. Kinda creepy.
I agree-sounds like a great organization. It looks like all had a great time. Yeah I wasn't sure that Santa wasn't a statue-in the first pic. haha Those are some serious brows. (: Cute pics & great things for all the kiddos.
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