Mt. Hood Park Association Children's Holiday Party

Sloane at the Mt. Hood Children's Holiday party.

Musical entertainment, face painting and balloon magic delighted children of all ages-yes, even the adults at this year's Mt. Hood Park Association's Children's Holiday party..

Joe Boccia's musical entertainment

Jackie Levesque, hard at work face painting.

Tim Levesque (The Magic of Yarrow) creating balloon animals and balloon hats for children and adults alike.

Once again,the Mt. Hood Park Association invited guests to the event December 2nd. Although the weather outside was dreary, the bright smiles of the children provided sunshine within the clubhouse.

A rainy day outside the Mt. Hood Clubhouse but bright smiles at the Mt. Hood Park Association Children's Holiday party inside

Donuts, cookies, pretzels, animal crackers and juice were provided. Later, there was a special visit from Santa. Sadly, it is impossible to have all the children present in the space provided by Patch for photographs. Other photos can be seen on the Mt. Hood Park Association's website (mthoodpa.com) in the near future.

One of the first guests to arrive at the festivities was 5 month old Carla, supported by her mom.

Another visitor to the event was none other than Santa Claus.

s.

Santa reaches out shake the hand of a child at the party.

Children had the opportunity to spend time speaking with him before he visits their homes this season.

Waiting their turn to remind Santa of their wish list, Courtney and Ji-Hye

Orla poses for the camera with Santa.

Derek, Casey and Stephanie

How times have changed over the years! What could be better than Jackson taking his own selfie with Santa?

Family photos perhaps?

Dressed in holiday style

A chat with Santa

The whole family posing with Santa.

Santa had his own reflections on visiting the Mt. Hood Park Association Children's Holiday party. Before leaving the clubhouse for visits with other children, he said of the Mt. Hood Park Association visit throughout the years, that " it's always the children"who give him "quite a lift".

"This is always a special event for me since to see the expressions and excitement in the faces of the children when I greet and meet them - is reward enough! One little boy who today asked permission to come up to me to give me a big hug was so touching to me. You could tell it was an emotional moment for him."

All smiles for Santa

Continuing taking a look back at the many years he has been visiting Melrose for the Mt. Hood Park Association's Children's Holiday party, he recalled, with a jolly laugh, a time when he decided to give his reindeer a rest and got a ride on a different type of sleigh. It soon became obvious to party-goers that this particular method of travel was something he was definitely not use to at all. As he let the reindeer rest in anticipation of the holiday, Santa recalled, "A guy come with his dog sleigh to give me a ride up the hill (when we had snow on the ground) to the clubhouse while the kids and parents stood at the outside porch to watch me arrive in the dog sleigh! The owner forgot to tell me to hold on - and when the dogs jerked the sleigh forward - I fell off it rolling down the hill! When I came to my senses uninjured, all I could hear was laughter from the porch as everyone thought it was the funniest thing they ever saw! "

Comet, Cupid, Donner or Blitzen? Dasher,Dancer, Prancer orVixen. One thing is for sure, we know it's not Rudolph as this reindeer doesn't have a red nose.

Since then, Santa's absolute preferred method of travel is in his own sleigh with his own reindeer. Now he let's his reindeer have a good long rest before leaving the North Pole for the Mt. Hood Park Association's Children's Holiday party.

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In addition to the Children's Holiday Party, The Mt. Hood Park Association has Senior Citizen Day at the Park, and the July 4th Concert. According to Mt. Hood Park Association President, Myron Dittmer, "Each of the three events will always be FREE to the public. That is why we need to have people join the organization. Membership dues are $20 per family an d $15 for Seniors. information about joining the organization is provided below:

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*I enclose $20.00 for our annual family membership. Senior Family Fee: $15.00 (65 years and over). Make checks payable to: “Mt. Hood Park Association.”.

Name: ____________________________________________

Address: ____________________________________________

Tele: _________________________________________

Email______________________

*** Note: Your email address will only be used to keep you better informed on what the Association is doing and to occasionally solicit your opinion on ongoing issues involving Mount Hood Park. Send to: Myron Dittmer, President 93 Altamont Avenue Melrose, MA 02176

For further information and photos of the Mt. Hood area and its trails, check out the Mt. Hood Park Association Website at mthoodpa.com.

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