Santa Claus stops his sleigh at Marianjoy

Santa Claus made an early visit to more than 150 youngsters Saturday at Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital in Wheaton.

While the children - patients and their siblings - had plenty on their lists to ask Santa to bring them in nearly two weeks, he was already prepared.

"This way the kids can tell him what they want, and he can let them know he's been thinking about them," said Ginny Girten, the hospital's pediatric therapy supervisor.

Toys for Tots provided the goodies for the fourth year in a row.

"We've been collecting from various events that began in the summer and continue on through the holidays," toy coordinator Mike Dizonno said.

The group began sponsoring the event at Marianjoy after one of its members began physical therapy treatments at the hospital four years ago.

"We've got it down pretty good nowadays," said Paul Micek, another toy coordinator. "We keep everything in stock for kids 9 years old and down. If we're running low on girl toys, we have someone run out to the truck and pull more out."

About half of the hospital's pediatric outpatient clients were expected to attend Saturday's festivities. That's double what the event drew last year, Girten said.

Even though 8-year-old Nick Houghtaling of Glen Ellyn has been receiving treatment at the hospital for about five years for muscular dystrophy, this was the first time his family had attended the Marianjoy Christmas event, his mother Yvonne said.

"It's sort of like a second family here," she said. "Parents know each other from the waiting room, we know the therapists, Nick has friends he knows from here, so it's like getting the family together."

Girten said the goal of the event is to make the children happy to be at the facility so it doesn't seem like all they do is work when they come. However, 10-year-old Gia Rinaldi of Wayne claims to have a lot of fun when she visits Marianjoy to do aquatic treatments for her juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.

The youngster was painstakingly decorating a reindeer ornament while she waited for Santa to arrive. When asked if she knew what she was going to ask Santa to bring her for Christmas, she pulled out a slip of paper and replied, "I've got my list."