Beckoned by the sounds of children singing Jingle Bells, Santa took a few minutes out of his busy schedule to make a pre-Christmas stop on Windsor Park on Sunday, Dec. 2 for the annual Lunch with Santa at Winakwa Community Centre.

There were plenty of smiles to go around as children coloured pictures, lined up to get their faces painted and watched a circus entertainer perform his juggling act. Member of Parliament Shelley Glover (St. Boniface) was on hand to distribute hotdogs, chips, drinks and oranges to the many families in attendance.

Of course, no visit from Santa would be complete without a quick hop up onto his knee to whisper Christmas wishes into his ear. Here are just a few of the requests that local children made to Santa this year:

Rebecca Birss, 8, wants a Barbie doll, a One Direction CD, and a Justin Bieber CD.

Braeden Martell, 6, asked Santa for Skylanders Giants.

Jessica Elcheshen, 10, wants a Fur Real Friend baby butterscotch pony. Her sister April, 8, wants a purple Furby.

Lyric McTaggart, who is almost 3 years old, wants a truck from Santa.

Evan Kupresak, 6, asked Santa to bring him a telescope for Christmas, while his older brother Brayden, 8, asked for Lego.

Happy holidays!

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You might recall that I wrote last month about a local resident who was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal in recognition of her life’s passion teaching others the art of dance.

This month, I’d like to share a story with you about another Diamond Jubilee medal recipient and the young Windsor Park girl who had a chance to be at the ‘heart’ of it all.

My daughter Hope was born with a congenital heart condition. At just four weeks of age she had already undergone three heart surgeries. Now, at 21 months, Hope is doing really well, thanks in part to the fantastic work that Variety, the Children’s Charity does.

Hope and I recently had the opportunity to help honour this organization as MP Joyce Bateman (Winnipeg South Centre) awarded a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal to Wayne Rogers, the executive director of Variety.

In fact, Rogers was actually holding my daughter in his arms as Bateman pinned on his medal.

    
On behalf of my family and all Variety families across Manitoba, I’d like to congratulate Rogers on receiving the Diamond Jubilee medal.

Thank you for all the work you and your organization do. Variety has made the holiday wishes of so many families, such as mine, come true.

And that’s truly what this season is all about.

Heather Tiede is a community correspondent for Windsor Park. You can contact her at htiede@gmail.com.