The Spirit of Christmas in Loma Linda CA

With Christmas approaching we find ourselves saddened that we will not be home surrounded by our family, a first in 36 years of marriage. We always enjoy the pre-Christmas activities like making holiday cookies, decorating the house, putting up the tree with our sons and all the hustle and bustle that goes along with the season. This year is to be different. We will have our Christmas when we return from LLUMC sometime near the first of February when Steve's treatments are completed. Jason and Brian are holding down the fort at home by putting up the Christmas tree and decorating it to the hilt. (The cookies will have to come later)


It was really hard to get into the spirit of Christmas until the opportunity was given us to help with the children here at the hospital who are undergoing treatment for cancer. Seeing these children really puts into perspective the many blessing that God has given our family and friends.

Every year they have a party for outpatient and inpatient children being treated here for a variety of diseases including cancer. We were asked to bring a gift for a child to our next support group meeting which turned out to be a special Christmas meal for us as well. (Which was terrific) By the end of the night the table was running over with gifts brought by about 80 people. They had a sign up sheet for those willing to sort these and other toys donated and Steve and I jumped at the chance to serve and had fun in doing so.

Well, I can't tell you how many toys we had because there were just tooooo many to count. The toys not only covered four long tables but were also stacked from the floor to the table. I think we filled 25 bags for each of three age groups for boys and girls which accounted for at least 600 toys, games, stuffed animals, puzzles, coloring books and pens, barbie dolls, trucks and more. As you can tell from the photos we had a lot of helping hands and thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon.


That is Steve in the bottom right corner picture covering the bag of toys with wrapping paper with our good friend Katie from Pennsylvania. I am on the right top picture counting the bags to make sure everyone was covered. What a good day!! We would do that everyday if we could.

The party for the children was held on December 18th. What a great day that was. We gathered early to get our instructions and assignments. The entertainment was a magician, food, and of course SANTA!.. The menu consisted of pizza, salad, fruit tray and assorted cookies and candies. Steve and I were assigned to make sure everyone had plenty of pizza . When the families came in and were seated, we were their waiters making sure that all were well supplied with pizza punch and/or water.


They just kept coming in and we were busy, busy, busy. I think there were about 5 couples on the run making sure everyone had plenty of pizza while the magician was putting on a great show for the children. He invited a lot of kids on stage to help with different tricks and boy were they excited to help. They had a great time.

Then the call was made for Santa's visit and the kids didn't hesitate at all. They called them by their table numbers to keep it as orderly as possible and I think it went pretty well. When the families arrived the child in treatment was given a name tag which listed his or her age. So when they went to Santa a helper read the age of the child and collected a bag full of toys appropriate for the age and gender of the child. A good time was had by all.

You know, when you look at what these children are going through you realize all the blessings Heavenly Father has given us - and we give thanks.