The Santa's Workshop at North Point State Park was a lot of fun for everyone, staff included! We enjoyed an afternoon of festive music, a train garden, and children's photos with Santa and Mrs. Claus.  The children had a chance to make holiday crafts to take home for family gifts. It was interesting to see that the Sweet Gum Ball Ornaments were more of a hit than the traditional Pine Cone Ornaments!

The train garden fascinated everyone as well. I saw so many smiles from kids and parents alike, even when the trains were "accidentally" derailed. The door prizes were also a huge hit!  No child left without a prize.

Everyone wanted to look at and learn about the Corn Snake and Box Turtle that had been brought to the workshop. There were lots of Oooo's and Ahhh's coming from the children and their parents while they were gazing at the critters.

Personally, I had a fun time making my little reindeer out of clothespins, shouting out winning numbers for door prizes and seeing the smiles and excitement from the children as they came up to claim their prize. I saw a few kids and adults dancing to the Christmas music that was playing and even caught a glimpse of them watching The Muppet Christmas Carol in our mini-movie theater.

Altogether we hosted 80 children plus their parents, recruited at least three new volunteers for the Park, and everyone had a great time!  Many thanks to volunteer Bob Jones for his wonderful train garden, Erv and Rita  Heine (Mr. & Mrs. Claus) from the Edgemere Senior Center for their help with photographs, and all the Girl Scout moms and kids for helping with the crafts and food.

A special thank you goes out to Marie Ramos and all our volunteers, the Gunpowder Falls staff for making time to help, and a very special thank you to Sarah Witcher, for making this the best Santa's Workshop we've ever hosted.

We look forward to seeing you there next year!