MOPS Santa House

I'm part of a mothers group called MOPS which stands for Mother's of Preschoolers. It's an International group that has thousands of charter groups all over the world. I've been blessed to serve on the leadership team for the past 5 yrs now. Every year we run into the obstacle of fundraising... we have a host church that pays for our childcare (which is a huge blessing!) but we need money outside of the dues to pay for any leadership training and scholarships. MOPS saying is "No mom left behind", which means that we reach out to all mothers, regardless of background etc... we also don't want the dues to be a reason a mom doesn't attend so the scholarships are there for that. Check out MOPS website at http://www.mops.org/
Any hoo, one of our new leaders, Niki, had an awesome idea to host a Santa's workshop (so to speak)... where kids could come and sit on Santa's lap, tell him what they want and get a picture taken with him (this was my job) and then go on to make a couple crafts and enjoy cookies and cocoa. It was an awesome weekend! We did fairly well with the fundraising part with very little advertising but even more importantly we spread the word about MOPS to many moms within our community. Also, being the photographer, I was there to watch each and every child light up when they saw Santa! What a blessing it was!!
Also, I need to mention that Niki hosted this event at her beautiful Victorian house, built in 1900-something, that she and her husband are restoring to it's natural beauty. I just have to let it out... I'm JEALOUS! Ok I feel better now... so on to the photos...

 I LOVE this one... I didn't realize it at the time but Santa's eyes are closed... a beautiful moment!

This little boys mom asked Santa if he'd be willing to take this picture... of course he was more than willing to participate too!!!

This one was made to look "old" for a reason... I had a rough time with my flash... it ate up the batteries like crazy... I had to keep re-shooting cause they were WAY too dark... this one I liked though and thought maybe I could salvage it in someway... I think it's not bad for a photo that was un-usable!

This little girl and her baby sister were way to precious! She cut out pictures of the things she wanted and glued them into a card for Santa... I love how all 3 of them are looking at the pictures!

I saw Niki kissing Santa Claus... which by-the-way "Santa" was Niki's husband... he was an awesome Santa!!! 

Of course I had to throw in my kids too... this is our oldest... Daina

Our 2nd... Ryley

and our 4th... Rigan. Just like many other babies... he cried!

 #3 would not go near Santa... in fact he tried to coax him over with a candy cane but wouldn't get close enough to take it from him!

There's always room on Santa's lap...  

 

This one was a miss-fire... I pressed the button too fast... and this is what I got! I love it... for next years "workshop" we're using this one to advertise... saying "Santa wants YOU!"

And this was just a few of us MOPS leaders who helped during the event.

We have dreams of this fundraiser becoming a HUGE event within our community for many, many years to come! Thanks to Niki and Santa (Vince) without them, their house, and their dedication to serving the Lord through MOPS this event wouldn't have been possible!