Meet the Very Special Santa at Our Local Mall - A True Believer of Christmas!

[KellyTheChef]

Here is a link to a story on a local "Santa" working at our mall. Friends of mine are in charge of the santa set, and have gotten to know this special Christian man very well. I finally got to meet him today, and just in the brief amount of time I spoke with him, he radiated love and compassion. A true believer of what Christmas is all about!

cantonrep.com

Here is our picture...Evan was NOT happy...so mommy had to sit down with him! LOL




http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t24/KellyTheChef/EvanandKellywithSantaDecember2007.jpg

 

[pamperedlinda]

Cute picture!

 

[yummybytes]

Too cute!!!

I also just love the picture of him with the sleeping baby!!! What a wonderful story as well...

Merry Christmas!!

 

[janetupnorth]

Cute Kelly - he almost looks like he could be your dad! Great smile.

 

[janetupnorth]

Kelly - it is also funny that your paper announces deaths ahead of time.

http://cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=392772&Category=9&subCategoryID=0

Hopefully and unfortunately, they already happened and they can't predict Tuesday deaths on Monday.

 

[baychef]

Evan does look a bit hesitant! Beautiful picture! Santa is looking wonderful and rested up for his big trip tonight!

 

[KellyTheChef]

Kelly - it is also funny that your paper announces deaths ahead of time.

cantonrep.com

Hopefully and unfortunately, they already happened and they can't predict Tuesday deaths on Monday.

Doh!

 

[KellyTheChef]

Uh...that first link was supposed to take you to a story. When I first posted this, it DID work, cuz I clicked on it to be sure. Now it just takes you to the main paper page. Here's the article cut and pasted:

Dear Santa: 'Don't let Mommy die'
Thursday, December 20, 2007
BY Diana Rossetti
REPOSITORY LIVING SECTION WRITER
A HUG AND A PRAYER ‘I am a conduit for what’s good and caring in the world,’ Santa Claus explained to Brenda Newport who revisited him last week at Westfield Belden Village Mall. Brenda’s 10-year-old daughter confided in Santa that her Christmas wish was that her mother would overcome cancer. Santa responded by giving Brenda a jingle bell on a leather cord taken from one of his reindeers’ halters.


The chemotherapy had drained her physically but three days after her final treatment, Brenda Newport, gaunt and bald, decided to venture out with her 10-year-old daughter, Hannah.

As the two walked toward the center court of Westfield Belden Village mall, Hannah’s eyes fixed on the sparkling Santaland.

What happened next was best described by Brenda herself in a letter of gratitude to mall management. In it, she explained that 10-year-old Hannah begged her mom to see Santa. Brenda agreed, even though she thought Hannah was a little old for such a visit.

Later, Brenda learned that her daughter asked Santa “for the cancer to go away and (for) Mommy not to die.”

Santa, with tears in his eyes, walked over to Brenda and gave her a long leather strap with a jingle bell looped through it. He told Brenda to wear it around her wrist as a bracelet, and to know that every time she heard the bell jingle, she would know Santa and his reindeers were praying for her.

BELLS HAVE MEANING

Santa said he always carries jingle bells in the deep pocket of his plush red suit. When it comes to giving them away, however, the generous man is unusually tight-fisted.

“For me, the bell is the symbol of the first gift of Christmas. I give it to people in true need of love and compassion like Brenda. She has a debilitating disease and those are the kind of things that affect me. I try to use the bell as a way of telling them I’m thinking of them,” said he, then added, “There’s a limitation to the magic of Santa. But Santa’s prayers do have a little pull.”

Even Brenda’s voice has a smile in it when she recounts what Hannah asked of Santa Claus.

“Maybe she wanted to cover all her bases between praying and talking to him,” she mused.

MORE TIME WITH THE FAMILY

Though her physicians have told her the cancer is not completely in remission and that it is expected it will continue to grow, Brenda said she already has received the Christmas gift she wanted most — more time with her family.

She and husband Jim, Plain Township residents, have a blended brood of 14. Brenda still home-schools four of them. And, over the years, she has helped bring 2,500 babies into the world.

“I’ve been a midwife for almost 30 years and besides my family, that is my first love,” she explained. “In fact, I was so lucky with the chemo. I had it every three weeks all through the summer and fall and, somehow, all the babies came a week before I went back for another treatment so I could be there.”

But back to Santa Claus, who was quick to give credit where it was due regarding the bell he tied to Brenda’s wrist.

“Prancer was the one who gave it to me,” he said. “I was cleaning the stall with the herdsmen and I found a bell in Prancer’s stall. I told him I would have one of the elves put it back on his halter. But he said, ‘No, Santa, someone’s going to come to see you and they need to know you and I and all the reindeer love them.’ ”

Reach Repository writer Diana Rossetti at (330) 580-8322 or e-mail:

[email protected]

Brenda Newport's letter:

"I have breast cancer. I've had a mastectomy, but it's still managed to get thru my lymph nodes, other breast and lungs. In other words, things aren't going as well as we'd like. I just finished my chemo last Friday. Chemo has made me terribly sick and weak ... On Tuesday, Nov. 13, I was finally feeling a bit better and we were doing a few errands at the (Westfield Belden Village) mall. We discovered Santa was there. Hannah, age 10, begged to go see him. I thought she was a bit old for that but she insisted so I said OK. I stood off to the side so I couldn't hear their conversation. At one point, I heard my name mentioned and Santa glanced my direction. I found out later when Santa asked Hannah what she wanted for Christmas, she told him "for the cancer to go away and Mommy not to die."

When Hannah was done, Santa came over to me. He had real tears in his eyes when he asked me to hold out my hand. Then he pulled a long leather string with a jingle bell looped thru it out of his pocket. He tied it around my wrist as a bracelet and said, 'Prancer and Dixon (sic) took this right off the sleigh and asked me to give it to you. They've asked that you wear it often so every time you hear the bell jingle you'll know they and Santa are praying for you.'

Then he gave me a warm hug and went back to his seat.

That has to be one of the most amazing, warm, feel-good moments of my life.

What he did was not phony or practiced, it came from his heart. He went way beyond the normal Santa job with his kindness.

As I write this, I am still wearing the bracelet with the jingle bell. It jingles every time I move and makes me smile with the memory of what happened."

 

[KellyTheChef]

Too cute!!!

I also just love the picture of him with the sleeping baby!!! What a wonderful story as well...

Merry Christmas!!

Isn't that just the cutest picture EVER!!

They were telling me about that picture the day they took it. The mom was sad that the baby fell asleep while they were waiting in line. Santa was the one that suggested they take the picture so it would look like he fell asleep reading a story to the baby. He is such a loving man... :angel: