Photo by Ellen Ferrera
The Santa Secret Sleigh project came to the area recently visiting Alicen Wooley of Arthur.

•December 25, 2019•
By Ellen Ferrera
for The News Progress

Three years ago Sarah Portillo in Loveland, Colo. realized she was unable to take her homebound daughter, Lilly, to see Santa. Lilly is a wheelchair bound child who communicates by blinking her eyes. Sarah was thinking how wonderful it would be for Santa to walk through their front door.
She talked with other parents in her situation, and they began to solicit volunteer Santas to visit homebound children.
On December 15 Alicen Wooley, a homebound child in Arthur received a visit from the most wonderous Santa who was dressed in sartorial splendor with a bejeweled cap, long, red velvet coat, a plaid vest and shiny black boots with bells all a-jingle.
The snow from outside still frosted his bushy eyebrows and long flowing beard. His moustache trailed into a curlicue on either side of his cherry red mouth. He kneeled by Alicen’s wheelchair and drew out a book from which he began to read, “The Night Before Christmas”. When he finished, I joined Santa and Alicen’s parents, Christina and Darreld, in singing “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”. Santa then spent time talking with Alicen about her Christmas wish list.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.