Santa, Mrs. Claus greet children at open house

It was standing room only at the Nazareth Motherhouse on Sunday afternoon, December 9th. Families packed the Motherhouse auditorium for the annual Christmas Open House, and the return of last year’s popular Santa and Mrs. Claus — who on other days are known as Dell Lee and Annette Boswell of Leon, Iowa.
“This Santa and Mrs. Claus are just the best,” said Sister Marilyn Wall. “They are so good with all of the kids and take time to talk with them.”
Santa and Mrs. Claus posed for photos with all the children during the free event.
“Say Pepsi!” Santa Claus said. When one of the children asked why, Santa said, “You can’t say Pepsi and frown.”
Immediately several of the kids tried it. Santa was right.
Liam Rodriguez, 4, of Concordia, was one of the first to sit on Santa’s lap and animatedly discuss his Christmas list.
“He was scared last year and wouldn’t go up,” said Liam’s dad, Rafael Rodriguez. “This year he wasn’t scared at all. We reminded him there would be cookies afterwards.”
Many Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia were on hand to serve ice-cold milk and punch and a selection of Christmas cookies to the crowds waiting to meet Santa.
“I think we served somewhere between 400 and 500 cookies, and 10 gallons of punch,” said Larry Metro, food service supervisor for the Sisters of St. Joseph.
Other Sisters guided visitors on tours of the historic Motherhouse to view the Heritage Center and the many Christmas decorations.
This year’s event also offered a drawing for a free door prize. The door prize was a set of eight Christmas ornaments that were sliced from the 64-year-old blue spruce trees that were cut down at the Motherhouse last winter. Snowflakes were hand-drawn on the wood slices to make a memento that will hold a piece of Motherhouse history. The prize was won by Ava Day, who was there with her mom, Latisha Day.
Jean Rosemarynoski, CSJ, explained why a convent offers a visit with Santa: “We do it for several reasons. Many young families have not met religious sisters and this is an opportunity for a short visit with sisters, a tour of the Motherhouse, and to learn more about us. One older child said he came specifically, 'to see the nuns.’"
Rosemarynoski went on to say that having Santa at the Motherhouse provides an opportunity for a no-cost, fun experience between parents and children.
“There were coloring sheets for the kids," she said, "and parents sit with them at the table. We had a set of great-grandparents who are raising a 5-year-old great-granddaughter. They were appreciative of having a place to take her and give her this experience. There were foster parents who explained that their three young boys had never had normal childhood activities, and they were grateful to be able to bring them to a place that would be warm and welcoming."
“I was so happy with the crowd we had,” said Ambria Gilliland, assistant director of development. “Seeing the joy on the kids’ faces truly made the whole event worth the work.”