Andrew Waddell, 4 yrs old was a winner of one of the bears, mom and dad Joe and Kim were just as excited as Andrew with his prize.
Ryan Lovell, from GV/OakGrove area, was our winner for one of the sleds.
Resident of Grain Valley, Reagan Henson was a first time visitor to the Santa House and was happy to recieve her prize. 
Santa Jim on the Chair for 12-22-07 Talk to Santa event......
Kathy Doty and the two Nick's took a picture with Santa Jim on Saturday. Both boys were working extra hours for school and did a great job in helping out.
Saturday was a day for us to really wonder if we needed to be out there. But the 54 kids that braved the weather tells us that yes, you open and they will come. A group of us got together and set up at 10:00 AM and then went home and returned at 12:30. Kathy, and the two Nick's along with Jim and John, set up the rest of the items we needed and of course, there were kids ready to see Santa before 1:00. Kathy gave them their papers to fill out as we finished setting up and within 20 minutes we had seen 11 kids. The weather was raining and then turned to ice and the boys put out kitty litter and some sand to help with the icy areas. eventually it came down as nothing but ice and very few flurries in that. Carol came at 3:00 and relieved the Doty group and Larry arrived at 4:00. The ice was till coming down and the weather had dropped. We had our last visitor at 4:53 and we decided it was time to shut down. We closed the house and found the key hole had iced and had to be de-iced to lock up the house. The 54 kids braved the weather and John and I are very very thankful to those who have come out to help during this cold weather we seem to have every weekend.
Small little visitor who came to see Santa.Optimist Member Laura (Lola) Powell is off traveling again with the Famous Rockettes. Lola sent me some information for the blog in which she was interviewed on "Behind the scenes at the Rockettes Costume designer." The following link shows a short interview that was done with Lola and just wanted to share with the group;
Lola, way to go, you do a fabulous job with them.
http://www.kcci.com/video/14893151/index.html
let me know if you have problems with this. you can copy and paste to view if needed.
THE HOLIDAY EXPRESS TRAIN
(KANSAS CITY RAILROAD)
The Holiday Train was in Grain Valley again this year on December 21st. Optimist Club sent up a tent and sold hot chocolate and some popcorn and candies to those waiting in line. The weather held out for the ocassion and turned into a nice evening. I took some pictures below and hope you enjoy them.
John Davison from the Police department was the officer who was going to direct traffic.
Dale and daughter Danni were setting up the tent in which the Optimist Club sold hot chocolate and goodies.
Kansas City Train coming to Grain Valley, behind is the Holiday Train cars.
People lined up to see the train
Santa and Mrs Claus
Officer Davison directing traffic.
Larry Chitwoods grandaughter.
Sunday December 16th, was Ed Caley's turn at on the Santa Chair.
Santa Ed was ready to go and with a couple of final touches, his first customers were his kids who came to take a picture with Santa. What a way to start the day.
Sunday turned out to be a nice day and as the sun shone, it started to melt the ice. We had a water problem for a while as the melted snow decided to start coming into the work area. We were able to set up the tent with the open area to the parking lot which helped a lot with seeing who was coming. We had 76 kids counting the Caley's, which was our biggest day so far. We were happy to see some of the kids coming in. Some mentioned that they were looking for us the day it was closed, last Sunday and figured they better come while the weather held out. Busy to the end, the workers were lining them up to see Santa. So Ed's first day on the seat was a busy one for him. People said it is easier to come to our house than at the mall right now, plus they like our little house.
We got a visit from Ann Ronchetto's granddaughter Maddy who has been coming since she was born. Each year we get a nice picture of her and she has even made the papers when we have included an article. I am happy to say we have included her in the blog along with some others. We had one child who came last Saturday with her Grandfather and this Sunday her Grandmother brought her in for another picture. Received many cans for the Assistance Council and thank you Dr. Chris Small with delivering to Mary Strack for us.
So enjoy the pictures and hope everyone is enjoying the blog.
Next week schedule has changed slightly.
Jim Brown will be Santa on Saturday
John Davis will be Santa on Sunday.
John figured he better get back on the chair as some people were asking why he wasn't doing it. So he will take Sunday which will more likely be the biggest day. Hope the weather holds out one more weekend.
Thanks to all of the helpers with setting up and breaking down on the weekends. It helps a lot.
The morning working crew. Ann, Chris, Christy and Bob take a picture with Santa Ed.
John giving Santa Ed the final blessing before he starts his ventures with the kids.
Here is Maddy, An Ronchetto's granddaughter who comes every year to see Santa. Thank you Maddy for such a pretty picture.
Here Carol was working a dam to divert the water into another area. Thank you Carol it worked and as the sun went down, it started to refreeze.
Above is our work area, this week we were able to open to the front but we had a losing battle with the snow melting and eventually soaked the inside of our work area.
New SANTA on the chair for the kids on Saturday December 15th.
As indicated earlier, this year we had the pleasure of having 4 different Santa's for the project. This is Santa Jim Brown who had the opportunity to be our Santa and he was not disappointed as he had 49 kids who came to see him. Even with the snow coming down, we got visitors who were anxious to see Santa, bought some popcorn and kept warm in our tented area. We put our heads together and determined which was the best way to set up our tent and again it was with the opening facing east. This is great for us as we kept the wind out of the tent but we could not see cars as they came in and we had to listen for the cars. We quickly shuffled the kids into the tented area and at one time had three groups waiting for Santa. Our early shift were Carol Barnes, Kathy and Erma Doty and Nick. We kept things rolling and by the end of the first shift we had 30 kids. The other 19 came in during the last shift and we did not have any who came at 5:00 which is always happened to us, where someone comes at the end of the day. Jim was ready for his debut and after John helped him put the finishing touches on his wardrobe he was ready for the kids. Again, we had someone waiting before 1:00. John was our photographer and said that Jim did a great job for his first time. Now he is has been crowned an official Optimist Santa. When asked Jim if he was nervous, his response is a little but them after a while, he felt comfortable and enjoyed being a Santa. Thanks Jim, you did a great job and below are some pictures we took of our workers.
After helping Santa get ready for the kids, John took time to take his picture with one of his students, Santa Jim.
Kathy Doty's son Nick, went in to see Santa and got his picture taken for our blog. He actually help us out in the tent.
Erma Doty came out and helped on the first shift and yes, she was dressed very warm.
Mary Harper was on our second shift of workers and took her picture with our Santa. 
Merry Christmas everyone........
This is the second day of the Santa House and John Davis was our Santa. He didn't think he would be able to take his turn as he was a little under the weather during the week. He managed to get to feeling better and made a terrific Santa for some visitors on Saturday the 8th.
Saturday morning we woke up to some ice on the roads. As we got to the Historical Society, Sheila was there calling people to cancel the meeting. However we started to get some people in and we went ahead and met. At the meeting we discussed what we would do for the Santa House if the weather was too get too bad. We agreed we would set up the tent after the meeting, Carl provided some salt for the parking lot area around where we were going to be and Larry brought us some sand. Between, Kathy, Mary Strack, Sheila, Carl, John, Larry and his son Mitch, Carol and myself, we put up the tent and sidings and got the house ready for the afternoon. Erma, bless her heart, Kathy left her in the car where it was warm. After returning at 12:30, we proceeded to finish putting out the rest of the items and turning on the heater. Just as Kathy and Larry arrive we were getting our first two visitors at 10 minutes to 1:00. Thankful, Santa was ready in his chair. It was a cold day but we did have 21 kids that came to see Santa. We sold some popcorn, nuts and candies as well. After not having anyone for about an hour and half, we chose to close around 4:30 and it was getting extremely cold by then. Naturally half way done, we had a father who asked if we were open and had to let him know we were closed and that we may be closed the next day pending weather but we would be open two more weekends. It's always sad when I have to tell them the Santa house is closed. But even still we had some great people come through and one couple came in with kids and had just moved to Grain Valley the week before. We encouraged him to read our brochure as they would know what we do within the community. I had Larry take a few pictures and hope you enjoy them. Look for the pictures when Jim Brown takes his turn as Santa.
This lady needs no introductions as you know. Kathy Doty is one of the happiest ladies I know. She took a beautiful picture with Santa and volunteered to stay and help finish the day after her shift was over. Thank you Kathy.
You've heard of Larry the Cable Guy? Well we have Larry the photographer. Larry volunteered to take pictures for us and we snapped one of him with Santa during a break of visitors. Thanks Larry for your help.
One of our new visitors is 5-1/2 month old Robert Benford. He will be another returning child next year as he really enjoyed Santa.
Second shift workers Carol Barnes and Kristy Caley took time to take a picture with Santa.
Here, Lorily, Joey and Alexis came to see Santa John. Second year for all of them.
The weather was so cold that here, Kathy wanted a doughnut and put it in front of the heater to heat it up. Not only did it defrost it but it made the tented area smell good. She enjoyed it.
Well Santa is finally here in Grain Valley.
Chris and John took time out to take a picture with Santa.
Saturday December 2nd, was opening day for the Santa House. Chuck Johnston was our honoree for the chair and we had some pretty cold weather to deal with. It took 7 of us to set up the area for us to use. Thanks to the Arnold's tent and his side covers, we were able to set up and keep us from freezing as the weather was very cold. The winds were blowing and at times we thought we may be in a Mary Poppins's movie and were waiting to fly into the air. This did not stop any of the kids from wanting to see Santa. As we registered kids for the pictures, we invited them in the tent to warm up next to the heater that John provided. Without that, we would have ice on our noses. We had 45 kids that came to see Santa between 1:00 and 5:00. We had one that came while we were still setting up and we went ahead and signed them up and then once Santa arrived we had three different kids waiting for him. Many of these are repeat visitors and comment very openly that they have been coming for three years or how ever many they have come. We sold some nuts, candies and popcorn during their visits. 45 kids use to be a good days in our earlier years, now we sometimes average about close to 60 to 70 on a good day. Last year after the Holiday train we had record days of over 100 kids per day and we are planning for that again as the train will come in before our last weekend. Our prices are great and they get A-1 treatment when they come. I want to thank those who did work this last Sunday, Irma, Mary, Bob, Jeanette, Jim Brown and his wife Cindy, yes we put her to work too and of course Sheila and Dale. Some of them may have thought they did not do anything but little do they know that just being there helps to keep conversation and most of all add more body heat to the tent.
We always welcome the workers. There are nuts, candies and popcorn to sell, sign up the kids for pictures and drawings, taking pictures, making sure our Claus' have the canes, small toys and anything else that may need to be done. We also have people who ask "What does Optimist do?" Well we have brochures but we tell them a little about us and how we look for new members all the time. So come out and visit, work for a little or come and take pictures for me to include in the blog. We can always use the help.
John and I provide coffee, hot chocolate and sometimes some goodies for our workers. So if your baking and want to bring us a good or two, we will take it. Thanks everyone.
Christy... event chairman
Santa Claus that needs no introduction, Chuck Johnston.
Our little house, as you can see we had to use the side entrance this time because of the direction of the wind. This was taken almost at 3:00.
Here Jeanette was showing Mary where she left off and refreshing her on what needs to be done.
Erma, Mary and Bob inside the tented area staying warm. 
Saturday meeting at Matthews gave us the opportunity to see the Library fully finished. The last time we met there was to start to load books back on the shelf. As you can see they added some new shelves in the middle, we only had the ones against the wall to work with when we did our shelf loading. The Library looked good.
Below you will find pictures of our board meeting, regular meeting and our visitor from the the Wrestling team to give us updates.
Presentation presented by Carol Barnes was the close of the day along with a short tour from Sam Packham for those who wanted it.
