Staff Writer
LIMESTONE — Though December is a very busy time for Santa, he left his elves in charge of the workshop for a day so that he could come to Limestone and have lunch with area children.
Aroostook Republican Photo/ Natalie Bazinet
Kobe and Kourtney West took time out during their lunch to have a picture taken with Santa. The Xi Alpha Theta sorority of Limestone arranged for Santa to come all the way down from the North Pole to have lunch with local youths in Limestone on December 6. This was Santa’s second public visit to Limestone this Christmas season.
The Xi Alpha Theta community sorority of Limestone arranged for Santa to visit, and spent the morning of Saturday Dec. 6 preparing lunch.
The non-profit event was just one of the many things the sorority does for the Limestone community. The Xi Alpha Theta sorority has a long standing friendship with Santa, and will be providing the Christmas gifts for one Limestone family this year.
Though there were small charges for lunch and a photo with Santa, all the funds went toward the cost of putting on a lunch with Santa for the kids, which included the cost of providing gifts for the participants and arranging for five prize giveaways for the children.
“This is something for the community and the kids,” said Joyce Day, Xi Alpha Theta president. “Xi Alpha Theta is about making things nicer for the community.”
“We had 25 to 30 kids today,” said sorority member Jo Ellen Kelley, “ages ranged from about 6 or 7 months to about 10 years old.”
Every child that attended received lunch and a present from the sorority in addition to the quality time they had with Santa; few children passed up the opportunity to have their picture taken
with Santa.
Brenda Knoll of Caribou attended the lunch with her daughter, Stephanie, and her grandnieces Latlya Trenchard, Bianca Trenchard, and Lakeisha St. John. Though the girls had just seen Santa at the Limestone Christmas Lights parade, they were excited to have lunch with him again.
“They had to come from Caribou to have lunch with Santa, because for some reason Caribou isn’t having a lunch with Santa this year,” said Brenda Knoll.
Lunch with Santa has been a 12 year tradition for the Knolls; Stephanie has been attending the event since she was 2 years old. The togetherness of the event is what Brenda looks forward to the most.
Lakeisha and Bianca were both going to ask Santa for a Bratz doll that walks; Latlya wanted to ask Santa for a doll castle and Polly Pocket dolls, and Stephanie is hoping that Santa will bring her the American Girl Samantha.
Carline Roussel of Limestone also had four excited children who couldn’t wait to see Santa. Xena, David, Heidi, and Conan Roussel were anxiously awaiting the arrival of Jolly old St. Nick.
“They started at 7 this morning with ‘when are we going to go see Santa,” Carline said with a smile.
The event took place from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m., with Santa mixing, mingling, and ‘Ho-Ho-Ho-ing’ all the while.
