Today we spent the afternoon in the Bone Marrow and Oncology Units at AdventHealth for Children. We went room to room, spreading some holiday cheer, and creating some mischief, with Santa Claus and the Grinch!

We were all in awe of one soft spoken young boy’s LEGO building abilities! Being an avid Star Wars fan, his parents gave him huge LEGO sets, a passion of his, and he managed to complete a very detailed Millennium Falcon within a few hours. He showed us Kylo Ren’s Shuttle, which he spent a few hours on, and was currently working on another set. We gifted him a Superman cape and mask, as well as a few small items to keep him busy between LEGO sets.

We also met a little girl who showed the Grinch none other than himself in his animated movie. As she cuddled with her mother, she told Santa she wanted a car for her Barbies. She had a beautiful bow in her hair, which we accented with a tiara! When it was time to take a picture, she showed us the most beautiful smile!

All of the children we visited took pictures with Santa and the Grinch. One child was so worried the Grinch would steal his gift while he took a picture with Santa, that we could not get him to look at the camera as he smiled! Even the nurses and hospital staff got in on the holiday fun and took selfies with our special volunteers!

Overall we spent time with 9 children (7 boys and 2 girls) and their families. Eight other children were not up for a visit, so we left a little gift for each one.

I would like to thank Santa, the Grinch, Jay, Tyler, Betsi and Nussi! I also want to thank the women of the MomsNext Group that came together to help me prepare for the visit: Betsie, Hilary, Jana, Samantha, Laura, Johanna, Caroline, Ana, Elizabeth, Kristen and Joni. And thank you to the teenagers that made friendship bracelets for me to include in the gift bags: Emily, Kayla and Leith. I could not have done this without your help!

Last but not least, a huge thank you to our sponsors that made this visit possible: Lucky’s Market and Wawa.