In Roselle, Santa takes requests while Mrs. Claus entertains crowd
Santa Claus has plenty of work ahead of him now that Roselle children have made their requests.
The jolly old elf visited the Roselle Public Library Saturday for the annual Celebrate the Season event.
The Wiseman family -- mom Debby and her daughters Amber, 12, Sarah, 10, and Mindy, 7, of Roselle -- was decked out in holiday sweaters anxiously awaiting Santa's arrival so they could request clothes, CDs, a cat and the Biggest Littlest Pet Shop. They try to make it out for the Celebrate the Season event every year.
"Roselle always does a great job for the kids and for the families," Debby Wiseman said.
Just minutes later Santa arrived in style on a fire truck. Once in the library, he let children hop up on his knee while Rose Queen Elizabeth Anne Necka handed out candy canes.
Emma Thorne, 4, was the first one to sit on Santa's lap and requested a trampoline.
"I'd get to jump on it a lot," she giggled.
Turns out the trampoline is a favorite of Santa's helpers too.
"The elves have one of those and they stop making toys to jump on the trampoline," Santa said.
Robots, pets, makeup and pogo sticks also made children's lists this year.
In addition to chatting with Santa, they got to meet Mrs. Claus, aka ventriloquist Sandi Sylver who led them in Christmas carols and whose puppets told them stories.
Sylver said Santa is going high-tech this year to find out who has been naughty and nice.
"Santa has a computer. He doesn't need little pieces of paper," she said. "He has a computer and he knows if a child is in time out, he knows if you didn't do your homework, he knows if you're not kind so it's very important to keep track of all the good things. It makes us all feel good to do a good thing," she said.
Amy Crawley, youth services department head, said the library foundation underwrites the annual program which features a different storyteller or entertainer each year.
"Having storytellers, it's kind of keyed to libraries that way and hopefully they'll check out a bunch of Christmas books on display upstairs too," Crawley said.
The puppets tickled the funny bone of Amelia Cammy, 8, and Erica Cammy, 4, of Roselle.
"I'm sure they like the puppets because that's a little different," mom Blythe Cammy said. "And the cookies."