Santa Claus is busy this time of year, but he made a special trip to Plains last Sunday to hand out presents at the old log schoolhouse along Railroad Street.

Santa - aka Dave Williams of Plains -  and his helpers set up a makeshift workshop at the 134-year-old one-room schoolhouse to hand out homemade dolls, Teddy bears, and wooden trucks and tractors. Santa was joined by Mrs. Claus, Terry Wendell, and elves Ivy Horodyski and her son Alex, 14. All were wearing protective masks and decked out in Christmas apparel. Around 60 children, the youngest 2-year-old Emma Clinkenbeard of Plains, along with kids from Paradise and Hot Springs, visited with Santa, getting their pick of a toy and a large candy cane. Four-year-old Aspen Glase of Plains gave Santa a letter with her Christmas wish list.

Santa's visit was sponsored by Joint Operation Mariposa (JOM), a nonprofit organization devoted to helping military veterans. Williams, president and founder of JOM, said the board decided to do something for local kids and solicited volunteer help to make the toys from VFW Post 3596 members, the Plains Woman's Club, and other individuals, who started working on the presents at Halloween. Plains resident Marilyn Carey, who has worked with JOM on various projects, helped sew 60 Christmas stockings that were recently hand delivered to veterans from Noxon to St. Regis by Williams and JOM member and VFW Quartermaster Heather Allen.

Santa's helpers spent about four hours the previous day setting up the temporary workshop at the school, which is operated by the Plains Woman's Club. Wendell, Ivy and Alex closed off part of the old classroom and put up a decorated tree, colorful strings of lights and decorations and had holiday music boxes on hand for the kids to play. The homemade toys filled Santa's bag and nearby tables. They also laid out some of the toys to show the different building stages. Altogether, the JOM had 400 toys to hand out; those leftover will be stored away and given out next year, according to Williams.

The JOM board decided to have the Santa visit several months ago to bring veterans and JOM supporters together. "We just wanted to engage with the kids and give back to the community," said Williams. He said it also helps spread the word about JOM and its missions. "Events like this give us an opportunity to come together and shine a light on some of the other things we do, like supporting our community," he said.

This was the first year for the group to have the Santa workshop, but Williams, a Navy veteran, said they plan to do it again next year. "For the first year and during a pandemic I think it went very well," said Williams, who added that he really enjoyed playing St. Nick and talking with the kids. Although they had a couple screamers, most of the kids took to him right away. He told the kids he had to put his sleigh and reindeer up on the mountain because there was no snow in town. One boy asked what the weather was like at the North Pole. Williams was ready, finding out that morning that it was 30 below zero at North Pole, Alaska. Williams said there was a steady flow of kids, which enabled him to talk with each child and give parents the chance to take pictures of their kids with Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Ed Moreth

MAGICAL TOUCH – Elf Ivy Horodyski shows Jeffery Samsel, 4, and Colton Samsel, 6, that they can magically turn on a Christmas music box.

"When we set this program up it was our intention at that time to include as many children as we could in the county and we truly hope that this event only gets bigger year by year, I just need more elves," said Williams, who said it was also a thank you to the community for its support to the JOM. He added that he'd like to extend the event to other Sanders County communities next year.