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mokenamessenger.com news<br />
the Mokena Messenger | December 13, 2018 | 3<br />
Nearly 100 show for Breakfast with Santa<br />
Analisa Trofimuk<br />
Freelance Reporter<br />
Children’s faces lit up as Santa<br />
and his jolly elf entered the room.<br />
Santa led the room in song, properly<br />
kicking off the festive morning.<br />
The Mokena Community Park<br />
District hosted its annual Breakfast<br />
with Santa at the Frankfort Aurelio’s<br />
on the morning of Sat. Dec. 8,<br />
with a crowd of almost 100 guests.<br />
Santa made sure to give his undivided<br />
attention to every child<br />
during his visits to each table. One<br />
child, who also happened to be celebrating<br />
a birthday, even received<br />
a special, “Happy Birthday,” from<br />
Santa when Santa had the entire<br />
room sing to him.<br />
Thomas Sutton turned 4 years<br />
old on Saturday and spent it with<br />
his family enjoying the breakfast<br />
buffet, which offered scrambled<br />
eggs, breakfast pizza, French toast<br />
strips and more treats.<br />
While Santa mingled throughout<br />
the room, his happy elf entertained<br />
guests with jokes, songs and balloon<br />
art.<br />
The park district has hosted the<br />
event for over 20 years and sees a<br />
large crowd every year.<br />
Recreation Supervisor of Special<br />
Events Rebecca Phetteplace<br />
said this year was the first they<br />
were able to invite more people<br />
as Aurelio’s allowed them to expand<br />
the event into the main dining<br />
room. This extra room made it<br />
so that Santa could easily navigate<br />
between tables while the elf had<br />
plenty of space to goof around and<br />
dance.<br />
“We are lucky enough to have<br />
such a great Santa and, of course,<br />
the jolliest elf around. The kids<br />
adore them,” Phetteplace said.<br />
Children could also enjoy facepainting<br />
ran by one of the park<br />
district’s art teachers, Petey Winkleman.<br />
Two-year-old Cameron Damico<br />
was just as excited to see his art<br />
teacher as he was to see Santa.<br />
Petey Winkleman has been teaching<br />
art classes at the park district<br />
for almost 24 years.<br />
“Seeing the kids faces when they<br />
The Kelly family gets the first visit of the day from Santa during Mokena Community Park District’s Breakfast with Santa at Aurelio’s in Frankfort<br />
Saturday, Dec. 8. The park district drew a crowd of close to 100 guests, thanks to Aurelio’s expanding the dining room to accommodate the large<br />
crowd. Photos by Analisa Trofimuk/22nd Century Media<br />
see Santa is just priceless,” Winkleman<br />
said. “Hands down one of the<br />
best events we have.”<br />
The park district involves high<br />
school students as well. Lincoln<br />
Way National Honors Society students<br />
served everyone their drinks.<br />
Many parents have been going<br />
to the event for several years. Tyler<br />
Rafa, 10, and his brother Ryan, 7,<br />
have been fortunate to have breakfast<br />
with Santa for the last seven<br />
years. This year, they received<br />
Santa hats and beards made out of<br />
balloons.<br />
It was not long before the line for<br />
Santa started and all of the children<br />
patiently waited for their turn to sit<br />
on his lap and tell them what they<br />
wanted for Christmas this year.<br />
Typically, the children receive a<br />
small gift from Santa at the breakfast.<br />
This year, the children received<br />
a candy cane, as well as a<br />
polka-dotted, candy-cane-shaped<br />
balloon.<br />
Santa made sure to wish each<br />
child a Merry Christmas and happy<br />
holidays before they left for the afternoon.<br />
RIGHT: Santa kicks off the<br />
morning by singing, “Santa Claus<br />
is Coming to Town,” along with<br />
some help from his elf and the<br />
crowd.
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