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LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
Christmas came early for the children of Fort Simpson.

Ava Crawley-Blauel, 15 months, rides a toy airplane she received from Santa at the Merry Little Christmas Party held at Bompas Elementary School in Fort Simpson on Dec. 6. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

Children from newborns up to those in Grade 6 were invited to participate in the Merry Little Christmas Party at Bompas Elementary School on Dec. 6. The party took over the school for the afternoon.

The gymnasium was filled with craft stations where children could make Christmas-themed creations. There were Christmas cards, faux stained-glass painted ornaments, beaded stars and felt Christmas stockings.

Many of the classrooms were also devoted to fun activities. There was cookie decorating, face painting, letter writing to Santa, a book walk and a Christmas tree to decorate.

Face painting was Kyra Sanguez's favourite activity. Sanguez, 9, emerged from the face painting room with a pink butterfly on her right cheek. She also liked playing Dance Central 2, a video game that challenges players to follow the movements of the dancers on the screen.

"It seems cool," she said about the Christmas party.

Sanguez, who's hoping to get an iPad, said she's looking forward to Christmas. Her family already has their tree up and decorated.

Dance Central 2 was also popular with Cadence Erasmus.

"I really liked that," she said.

Erasmus, who would like an iPad and an iPod for Christmas, said the party was lots of fun.

The event was capped off with a visit from Santa who made sure every student and younger child received a present.

The Merry Little Christmas Party was Gail Villeneuve's idea. Villeneuve thought of raising money for a children's party to replace the one the Fort Simpson Metis Council no longer holds.

"I thought I could help out," she said.

Villeneuve hosted a TV bingo every Friday for almost two years to raise the approximately $9,000 that was used to hold the party. Val Gendron helped Villeneuve organize the event at the school and order the approximately 190 presents online.

Playing the role of an elf, Gendron surveyed each of the students at the school in advance to find out what kind of a present they would like to receive. This meant that almost every student received a personalized present.

For the past six weeks, volunteers helped wrap the presents. Volunteers and students from Thomas Simpson School also helped run the activities during the Christmas party.

"It was awesome," Villeneuve said about the finished event.

Villeneuve was on hand to see the children receive their presents.

"It's good to see a lot of happy faces," she said.

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