The Mission School Kids

It was time for the annual Eastern States Club dinner/Christmas party for the San Xavier Mission School. The school is located on the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation.

These are the four nine-year-olds who sat at our table. They are Daniel, Guillermo, Myjeisha and Miranda. They were all really cool kids.

Myjeisha immediately recognized me from last year. She was held back in the third grade so this was her fifth time attending the party. She was grinning ear to ear when she saw me.

Miranda had never attended one of our parties. This was her first year at the mission school. She was very excited to be here to see Santa Claus and to enjoy a big turkey dinner.

When Daniel said down there was an empty chair between us. He looked over to me and I waved at him to move closer. He did one of those "who me?" motions with a huge grin on his face. Then he slid over and sat next to me the rest of the night. He was a joy. Funny and full of life, as were they all.

Guillermo was a nice boy, too. His story was sad, though. When he was little, his father was jailed for two years. His parents got divorced and his mother abandoned him and turned to drugs. His grandmother took him in. He smiled at the end of telling us his tale. He now lives with his father who is engaged to be married. He said he has not seen his biological mother since he was young. But his father's fiancé wants to adopt him and that makes him very happy.

These kids all have stories that could break your heart. Each one of them is very special.

Our club provided them all (grades 1-4) with a Christmas present from Santa and a wonderful turkey dinner. In turn, they performed their own version of the Christmas story - the night Christ was born. It was very cute.

I think the adults look forward to it each year as much as the kids do. I know it's the highlight of my Christmas! I love these kids.