As I carried the sack crammed with presents into the hospital room, the children’s faces were a picture.I sat down next to one little boy. ‘Have you written me a letter yet?’ I asked him.‘Oh Santa knows everything,’ I smiled, hoping he wouldn’t recognise me as Gary, the play specialist who’d been helping him make paper chains that same morning.
After Santa’s visit, the kids could do Christmas craft, helping make decorations for the ward, or icing festive gingerbread. Most afternoons, we’d haveWe got such incredible feedback from the parents and the kids, saying how special and fun we’d made their time in hospital. So we’ve done it every year since and I’ve been Santa every day in December, right up until Christmas Eve.
Last year, in my regular role as a play specialist, I spent lots of time with a nine-year-old girl who hadthat December, I helped her make some lovely handmade Christmas cards for her parents and grandparents.