For the past couple months, my friend Sy and I have wanted to help out at an orphanage. The Navy is always doing volunteer work so we figured we could do something threw them. Well, she found a gig volunteering at a child care center. We aren't 100% if it was a child care center or an orphanage or...maybe like a YMCA thing...? We don't know, but it was fun!
There was a group of about 15 of us and we were there to help them celebrate Christmas. The leader of this group was Santa, and the staff at the child care center dressed the rest of us up as elves! It was hilarious.
We get all suited up, with Santa leading the way, and almost instantly we could hear a big group of kids start cheering with incredible excitement! It was the cutest thing ever! I couldn't even see them yet and I had a huge smile on my face!
The kids aged from infant to about 4 and they were all sitting on the floor of this gym like area. There was a stage in the front that was festively decorated and Santa and a few elves sat up there. The rest of us sat on chairs in front. To get things started, the kids ask Santa questions, then they sang some Christmas songs. The songs were hilarious because they were half English half Japanese.
After, groups of kids were lining up to see Santa and get little gifts. The rest of the kids, us elves had to entertain. The staff had two HUGE inflatable beach balls that were being tossed around. That was so funny to see these huge beach balls bounce into kids, knocking them down and then the kids getting up laughing trying to get the ball again. I danced with the kids, took pictures and at one point, I had a brilliant idea of throwing them up in the air and catching them...well EVERY kid wanted to do that so I had quite the workout. For any of you who do CrossFit, I basically did thrusters with small children for about an hour.
Once they all saw Santa, we held hands in two circles and sang and danced to more Christmas songs.
Towards the end, while we were dancing with the kids, there was a little girl that loved my wedding ring. She was so gentle grabbing my hand and grabbing her friends to check it out too.
The kids had SOOOO much fun! They were so happy and clearly were having a great time. I loved it! Whether they were orphans or just there while their parents are at work, we made their day! It was well worth it for them and for us!
There were SO many pictures that I decided just to make a slideshow. Enjoy!
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