Magical Moments with Santa
Magical Moments with Santa started in 2009. A little girl came into the studio with a family who was paying for The Santa Experience at Wonder, Simplicity & Beauty in Portraits. Those kids were being shy, but the one girl seemed interested. I didn’t want her to miss an opportunity to see Santa. When Santa asked her what she wanted for Christmas, she replied “Underwear”. Chills went down my spine & I thought what is going on that a 4 year old wants underwear. After investigating, we found out she had a single mom & twin siblings who were 18 months old struggling to have a nice Christmas. We collected everything we could get our hands on & brought her mom, the little girl & her siblings back for a Christmas like no other. We provided a visit with Santa & Mrs. Claus, toys, pajamas, bedding & of course underwear. All the while, I was taking family portraits of them. After the wonderful evening, I thought we could do this for a lot of families & the idea became a reality. I started asking my clients to bring in a toy of $20.00 value & I would give them a 5X7 portrait as a way of saying thank you. I asked local businesses if they could help out in any way. Some businesses gave us food for the event, the local dentist gave us tooth brushes, the teachers put their Scholastic points together & brought us books, some gave us money to buy the perfect gift for a child or they ran a toy drive for us. In 2010, families were being laid off & the need for helping families grew. Fathers could not afford Christmas that year & they were so overwhelmed that Magical Moments with Santa was their only Christmas that year. In 2012, we learned another type of family should visit, families who lost their homes to Hurricane Sandy. We added more types of families in 2015 with children who are terminally ill & may have their last visit with Santa. In 2017 we offered the opportunity to children in financial distress, with medical issues or who had an unfortunate event happen to them that year. We saw refugees from Puerto Rico, children who lost a loved one, children or parents having medical problems and more. Magical Moments with Santa offers them an evening they will never forget. Families receive private time spent with Santa & Mrs. Claus, portraits of the evening, toys to open with Santa, a warm turkey dinner with all of the trimmings & a tin of cookies from Mrs. Claus. To do this we are always in need of “Hot Toys” of the season, such as bicycles, games, sleds, footballs, Legos, Barbies and more. We have seen over 850 children from the Hudson Valley since 2009. Nominations are reviewed in October; local individuals and groups nominate families who they feel are in need of a Magical Moment with Santa or school nurses & pediatricians hand out invitations. Please help support our cause!
Santa Steve with Jenna Bush Hager during her visit with Magical Moments
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