Special Visitor
It took Santa a while to get to all the classrooms.
It is never a surprise that the most excited group of students are always the younger ones. It took Santa a while to get to their classrooms, but when he made it he was greeted with a resounding “SANTA!”
But before Santa heard the squeals of delight, he and his helper arrived at the school two and a half hours after their eastward bound “sleigh” arrived in the Rosebud Indian Reservation community.
School staff welcomed them and quickly ushered Santa into a changing room to get him into his “work clothes” to fully transform for the awaiting students.
They started their surprise classroom visits with the 5th grade classes and worked their way toward the excitable preschoolers. It took several attempts for Santa to get his “ho, ho, ho” tone just right… but by the time they arrived at the 2nd grade class, there was no denying this was the real deal! Santa took a seat in each classroom and individually invited each student to receive their stocking and share their wish list with him.
The students all gave their biggest smiles to show Santa how much he was appreciated.
The older students were a little bashful, a few even “too cool” for Santa, but all were happy to see him and receive their stocking. As they accepted their generously stuffed red and white stockings, some of them even tried to pull on his beard. A couple of the older students were a little suspect in his mode of transportation because it hadn’t snowed — and everyone knows he drives a sleigh when delivering his holiday cheer. This question prompted, “How did you get here without any snow?” Of course, Santa always has a backup plan: there are too many children throughout the world counting on him!
As Santa made his way to the lower and younger grades, the faces of pure excitement increased.
Shouts rang out with, “Santa is here! Yes, Santa is here!” A frequent request heard throughout the morning was, “Santa, I want an Xbox One X, please!” One student even said, “Santa, can you put my mommy on the naughty list and give me her presents?” It’s hard for Santa not to crack a smile when children tell him their secret wishes, so his big belly was jiggling all day long.
All students were happy to see Santa and receive their stockings.
Santa finally arrived at the group most excited to see him: the preschoolers! They saw him coming up the ramp to their modular and they all screamed, “SANTA!”
After Santa received a hug from everyone, the children even invited him to a game of “Duck, Duck, Goose.” Once he got settled into his chair, each name was called to come and get their stocking. Because they were patient all morning, most of them came in full sprint, arms open for a big hug, and their biggest — sometimes toothless — smiles so that Santa knew how much he was appreciated!