Santa Makes Haste to Southchase

Who helps Santa all year round? Elves, of course! There’s his regular crew at the North Pole, but when he’s traveling and making special stops (like BrightStart) he staffs from local Elf unions. Wednesday’s special guests from Valencia Local 837-23 were Brittany, Caitlyn and Marisa.

Many people don’t realize the completely different skillset needed for some elves, as when accompanying Santa to BrightStart. “It’s generally understood about the elves making toys and things,” he told us. “But on visits such as these, it’s the elves opening and un-packaging things. Different tools, different moves, and often pressure, while a child waits and watches.”

BrightStart certainly congratulates our Valencia trio for Wednesday’s performance, where they were challenged with simple pieces like gift bags with tissue topping all the way to fully encased toys.

Our holiday celebrations always bring something special, often in the form of patients and families who have graduated from BrightStart and come back to shock everyone by how wonderfully and quickly they’ve grown up. This year, our guests of honor were former patient Ryan and his mother Debbie. Ryan participated as an Elf volunteer and help Santa distribute gifts, love and joy.

We also want to go on record that while Debbie does have a degree of contact with the Office of Santa Claus, she is not our inside source there and has no access to the GBD. (That’s the “Good-Bad Database”, in case you didn’t know. Santa doesn’t use handwritten lists any more, this is 2023 … where have you been?)