Once Upon a Christmas

Hi again!

My newest creation for this winter is the program "Once Upon a Christmas with Mrs. Claus." Now that I have a brand new Mrs. Claus outfit, I'm ready to share it, and my story telling, with the central coast.

Parents, school groups, assembly coordinators, Scout groups--anyone--are welcome to contact me to have me read and interact with their children. I'm so excited about this holiday season. There are so many opportunities available. Santa definitely gets the spotlight, but Mrs. Claus needs a chance to escape the cold of the North Pole and head south for the winter, too!

But seriously, I am spreading my wings and heading to different locales to do my reading.

This weekend I'm appearing at Uesugi Farms Pumpkin Park as 'Sadie the Scarecrow.' I spent two hours there on October 16, and it was great fun. I felt like a minor celebrity after having so many pictures taken with the little folks. The one thing that kind of surprised me is when a family asked me to take a picture of them!

In the works is a holiday tea, possibly, at San Juan Oaks Country Club in Hollister, Ca, with Mrs. Claus. I have a meeting with the banquet coordinator on Monday to discuss this possibility. It would be so much fun if we can do this. Hollister is crying out for more family-oriented events, and it's my goal to try to bring this to the community!

In closing.. Mrs. Claus will come to your home to surprise your children, but I also make calls from Mrs. Claus ($5) and letters from Santa again, $10 per child. I send these to North Pole, AK, for a special post mark.

If you want more information, email me at Jengelha@aol.com.

Thank you!

Story time success!

It's been awhile since I've posted, but my first story time was a great success! It was Buccaneer Bay-Pirates held at Mars Hill Coffeehouse on July 14. 72 people were there--62 of them were children!

My next story time will be on Wednesday, July 28, at 11 am at the same location. The theme next time is WILD for Animals! I'm hoping children will either dress up as their favorite animal, or they will bring a stuffed animal to share.

I hope you'll join us next time. We had so much fun!

Mars Hill is located in Hollister, CA, at 610 San Benito Street at the cross of 6th. This is FREE!

Take care!
Julie

Free Story Time in Hollister, California

Well, it's only a week until I do my first story time here in Hollister, Ca. It will be held at Mars Hill Cofeehouse located at 610 San Benito Street. I certainly hope we have a good turn out that morning--11 am to noon. This will be a pirate theme, so I've been purchasing pirate books and thinking up things to do that are related to pirates.

I'm doing this on a volunteer basis. My inspiration comes from an 'old' friend, John Zickefoose, who I met about, wow, 13 years ago in Corona, California. John is such a great presenter, but I found out that he did not learn how to read until he was 35. Can you imagine that? He said he even graduated from high school, but he wasn't able to read the words on his diploma. He learned how to read after suffering a back injury which prevented him from continuing the type of work he was doing. It's amazing how life works.

But, John's message to kids and adults was to keep reading, reading, reading. I really want to pass that message along to the people here in Hollister. I'm a volunteer, I'm not making any money from this. I also want to give something to the community--to the people who are looking for things they can do with their children, for free!

My hope is to continue doing this for the rest of the summer, and possibly during the holidays. My next thought is to do a Hawaiian Beach Party reading event. Or, take a holiday from video games.. something along those lines. I'm looking for hula dancers who will perform for free.

Thanks for reading my blog! Hope to see you at Mars Hill Coffeehouse in Hollister on July 14, 11 am, 610 San Benito Street.

Julie