Its a time of the year when even the old bah humbug people put a smile on their face as they watch the kids and parents have such a great time at our annual winter wonderland. After our Associates worked most of the day on Saturday getting set-up the schedule was going to be from 5:00 p.m. till 9:00 p.m. with the tree lighting and the arrival of Santa at 6:00 to light the tree. Now we had got a call from the big guy that there was not enough snow to bring his sled and he wanted to know if we could help him out. All he had to do was ask and the crew with the ladder truck headed out to the airport to pick him up. The kids now were getting excited to know he was coming any time now so they along with their parents were all crowded around our beautiful tree when off in the distance you could hear the siren on the truck announcing Santa's arrival. So up on the ramp he pulled and he looked like he had rode a fire truck a time or two. The kids went wild and I must admit so did I. I love Santa and the smiles he brings to everyone. He climbed down off the Ladder truck and it looked like the Pied Piper with all the kids and their parents following behind him. When he got to the tree he looked it over and he was happy with it so he proceeded to grab the switch and WOW did it light up or what. It was so pretty and the day's work the firefighters did putting it up was well worth their effort.

After the tree lighting then there was more fun inside the station. We had moon bounces (2), face painting, fire truck rides. a magic show with Reggie Rice and not to forget pictures with Santa Claus. We also had two bikes to give away and the kids could take a chance to see if they could win. Did not have to be present to win and I can't tell you who won but only kids could sign up for it. The fire truck rides are very popular for kids and their parents alike. We want to give a big thanks out to our brother firefighters who came down from the other departments to give us a hand and we do the same for them when they light their trees. I will try and get the thanks out to our brother department's and that would be Leonardtown, Ridge, Second District and all the way from the Seventh District.

We also had plenty of food and drinks for a very reasonable price and you guessed it, that's where I was along with the Geritol bunch and they know who they are so I don't have to embarrass them by saying names. I will tell you up front that there is no way we had as many people as they had in Leonardtown who is like the premier of tree lightnings in the County but we had a couple of hundred and I know that because we had prepared a couple hundred hot dogs and the firefighters sitting around the table helping could not have eaten that many. We did eat a few. It is so cute to see the faces on the little ones as they walk around looking at everything and those moon bounces man they had a ball. I got dizzy just watching them go up and down.

So around 8:30 the crowd was getting smaller and it was past our bedtime so we were glad to see it then it was cleanup time and that took another hour but it was okay. We will turn around again and do it next year as we raise the tree for everyone in our community and our late great member Bob Braddock who was the driving force in getting the tree in the first place.

Don't forget our breakfast with Santa on December 3rd in our social hall at the firehouse from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. We only do two breakfast's a year so plan on coming out for a great breakfast and visit with the big guy for a picture or two.