President Jack began the 93rd Annual Children’s Christmas Party promptly at 12:15. Students from North School gave the invocation and presented President Jack with a snowflake thank you card representative of our uniqueness.

 

Before the party got into full swing, Scott Watkins filled us in on December birthdays. He began by noting that $775 has been collected thus far from 8 Rotarians. Since the month is only halfway over, there will likely be additional collections to add.

 

With Christmas fast approaching he asked our December Birthday Rotarians “If you could slide down anyone’s chimney this Christmas, who’s chimney would it be, and what your you leave under their Christmas tree?”

 

Tobi Lyon Moore replied with “Channing Tatum.” Upon seeking clarity on this, she confessed to misreading the question and thought that he had asked about sliding down someone’s pole, not chimney. She declined an invitation to submit a new answer. Apparently she’s not interested if it involves a chimney.

 

Peter Achuonjei replied that he would slide down the chimney of his late father and leave his Ph.D. diploma under the tree because his father’s wish was for Peter to study hard and not to follow in the footsteps of his many friends who dropped out.

 

Missy Lilje responded that she would slide down her family’s chimney and under the tree would be a coupon for every family member for three extra hours every day that they could all spend together.

 

Julie Thomas said she would slide down John Dale’s Chimney and leave him a bucket so he could finally carry a tune.

 

Michelle Reynaert, always thinking about fundraising, wants to go down Bill Gates’ Chimney and leave him donation envelopes for Sparrow, Rotary, and all other Lansing area causes.

 

The birthday presentation concluded with our usual rendition of Happy Birthday and then the Christmas party began!

 

Ken Beachler served as Master of Ceremonies and began by introducing Rebecca Klinger and Gage Clark who were to begin our program with a dance to “Baby It’s Cold Outside” and “Rocking Around the Chirstmas Tree”. Unfortunately the dancers were not waiting in the wings for their cue and did not take the stage. No worries though, Lisa Smith began the program instead by singing “The Christmas Song”. While she was singing, Ken tracked down those dancers and Rebecca and Gage followed.

 

After the dance selection, member Heidi McNaughton sang “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”, giving Gage Clark time to catch his breath before taking the stage again to dance to “Sleigh Ride” with our own Michelle Lantz, who wore a very sparkly red dress. Ken commented that next year we would get the entire club on stage to dance. He also noted that Michelle would finish sewing her costume up before next year’s event.

 

Next Ken and John Dale Smith shared “Twas the Night Before Christmas” which delighted the children. Lisa Smith took the stage again for “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”. While she was entertaining the children, the jolly old elf himself was seen wandering around the back of the room and soon made his way to the stage to the delight of the children. Apparently worn out from his long trip from the North Pole, he found a seat while we all sang “Silent Night”. Before passing out the presents he had brought, he said that he was sure he had presents for Lisa and Heidi, but not so much for Uncle Jack and Uncle Jimmy. He also noted that there was an elf in attendance who had sung with Burl Ives – Dave O’Leary.

 

Mr. Claus asked the children if they had been good. Of course, they all said that they had been, and Santa decided not to ask the teachers. He noted all of the presents under the two Christmas trees, but lamented that he had no helpers, saying that they are getting old and slow. Once the helpers arrived, presents were passed out to all of the children. Some of the helpers got a bit sidetracked, helping the children to open their presents, causing Santa to have to wait from time to time.

 

When all the presents had been distributed, Santa thanked the Rotarians and headed back to the North Pole. President Jack adjourned the meeting at 1:00.

 

Special thanks to Our Dance Studio, a competitive ballroom dance studio for providing the dancers, and the Lansing Center staff for all of their help and the delicious lunch. I know you will all want to join this Rotarian in thanking Cathy Andrews for all of the work she puts into this event as well, making sure that each child gets one of the gifts on their list. She was helped by Ed Culberson, Jenn Dubey, Emily Sutton Smith, Julie Pingston and Manny Garcia who helped wrap all of the gifts so they would be ready for Santa to deliver.