It was a dark and stormy Thursday – outside, anyway. The sun is always shining at BrightStart, but things really lit up when Mr. Kringle showed up for a pre-Christmas visit at our Sanford center!
Sanford’s preschool group have been enjoying all kinds of holiday-themed activities during December, including a varied collection of holiday carols. Santa’s arrival was the perfect event to highlight the month, especially with Christmas just a few days away.
It wasn’t just the patients who embraced the holiday spirit. The Sanford therapy team transformed their gym into a fully immersive Polar Express experience, including a working train (though not mobile during center hours for safety purposes). Tickets for this year were sold out, but contact your local therapy elf for information on booking future holiday events.
More helping elves equals even more holiday fun. 
It really IS the most wonderful time of the year!
Santa arrived with another full complement of elves, which meant an outstanding elf to patient ratio. Word got out and it brought in a few parents to visit as well, and many patients made an appearance in their Christmas finest.
For the most part, patients had a blast talking with Santa, and there was much delight over the gifts he brought. To show their thanks, the preschoolers sang for Santa and his elves, and got to hand deliver their special, hand-crafted card to him – this was great, because it saved a wait in line at the post office to send it to the North Pole.
Many, many thanks are due:
To our patients and their families, for their trust and love;
To our incredible BrightStart staff, for their tireless dedication;
To the elves of the Valencia Nursing program … all 596 of them;
To our beloved and very real Santa Claus, who makes this season especially fun for us at BrightStart.
If for any reason you’re reading this and don’t believe in Santa Claus, we invite you to take a look at our latest photo gallery… and you’ll see what all the fuss is about.