The day dawned bright and full of expectation...a day many of our children had been looking forward to for months! It was the Children's 0-14 years Christmas Party! The bouncy house and slip and slide arrived, as staff members set up the brand new donations guaranteed to bring much joy and laughter... a trampoline, foosball table, table tennis table, and new games. The staff members had work hard all year long, raising funds, to ensure this would be a day for the children to remember!
Inside the center, breakfast was being served, In a side room, some of the young ladies were getting ready for St. John's "Miss St. John's" beauty pageant to begin. Other staff members were checking their lists twice, making sure all of the amazing Christmas Shoeboxes donated from St. John's College, were all in order and correctly assigned.
Wonderful smells wafted around the yard as hundreds of boerewors were being braaied and huge pots of pap were being stirred over the hot fire. Along with some tasty sauce and thirst-quenching juice, this would make for a perfect party lunch.
Children squealed with laughter as they were allowed to go outdoors and start enjoying the fun! Girls had competitions to see who could bounce the highest, boys crowded around the soccer set up, eager to be able to join in on a game, other kids waited patiently in a line for their turn down the slip n slide... a perfect day to get nice and wet given the hot African sun coming down on them. Older kids sat down to enjoy a quieter game of monopoly and chess.
After many hours of fun and a wonderful lunch, the children sat down to enjoy the St. John's Pagent. The judges were from the Rand Mall Academy Modeling School in Randfontein. All the girls did a fabulous job and they all looked lovely!
After the pageant, there was a lot of fun dance parties and an awesome treat of icecream! The grand finale of the day was when each child received their beautifully wrapped Christmas shoebox! A great success and joyful day all around!