The MOST wonderful time of the year!
Some of us are Buddy the Elf who can hardly wait in anxious anticipation for the holidays to get here and some of us relate more to Ebeneezer Scrooge who would rather skip the season altogether and get back to normal life - because holidays can just be…well, hard.
Families who have kids with special needs can find themselves even more stressed around the holidays with the disruption of normal schedules, addition of difficult transitions or uncertainty of how their kids may react to their environment. Holiday transitions are hard to master because they only come once per year and visiting family and relatives that you don’t see often can be very overwhelming and cause big emotions.
Pause wanted to change the narrative for families and give them a fun, inclusive space to be together as a family unit during the holiday season. The Pause Holiday Shoppe was designed to do just that and for many families it has become an important part of their holiday traditions.
At the Holiday Shoppe, kiddos get to pick out a special gift for every member of their family (pets too!) and our volunteer elves wrap each gift with love. Giving space for kiddos to visit a boutique filled with gifts brought big smiles and eyes of wonder.
Finding that most perfect gift for their family members is something that our kiddos take very seriously. Six-year-old Leona picked out the cutest, pink, kitty cat earmuffs for her Grandma. Leona always tends to use her outside voice to express her emotions - whether she’s happy or sad! Leona was SO excited when she saw the earmuffs and wanted to give them to her grandma to help her ears. <insert crying emoji> These kiddos are the MOST thoughtful. Those earmuffs will be cherished for decades to come.
While kiddos are waiting to shop or have their gifts wrapped, they can choose from over 35 activities, crafts and sensory friendly games to pass the time including taking pictures and writing letters to Santa. Some of our kiddos, including 20-year-old Ben, were very excited to share their well thought out list (weeks in the making!) with Santa. Other activity stations included Santa’s Science Center, story time with the MidPointe Library, gingerbread house making, listening to the amazing carolers and more! Shout out to Pause Content Creator, Kaylann Yankie for knocking these activities out of the park!
This event would not have been possible without the 100 volunteers and donors who generously donated their time, talent and resources. Over 1,500+ gifts were shopped for wrapped and ready for families in record time!
Big shoutouts to:
Pat McCoon, Sr. for bringing Santa to life!
Lindsay and Jennie, librarians from MidPointe Library for reading holiday stories to our kids!
American Heritage Girls #2513 for caroling to our families.
Michelle Bellman for coordinating over 280 books so each child could take one home.
Center Pointe Christian Church for graciously allowing us to use their building.
Ray’s Pizza for serving 25 pizzas to families!
Chick-Fil-A and City BBQ for helping provide breakfast and lunch to help us appreciate our magnificent volunteers!
Families shared with us…
“There is a lot we can’t do because of the needs in our family. Thank you Pause, again, for making this event that is safe for my youngest and allows my big boys to be treated extra special. You don’t know what this event means to us! Thank you!”
“My kids look forward to the holiday shoppe every year!! Such a fun event that just gets better every year!! It takes a lot to make a teenager smile and for that, I thank you, Pause!!!”
“Thank you for the hard work today for the Christmas shop! Our daughter wore her affirmations proudly until it was time to change into pjs!”
So, even though this time of year can be hard - thank you for making it easier for families. Thank YOU to everyone who had a piece of the Holiday Shoppe and for making it just a bit easier for our families to make memories, create traditions and have fun together.
This is CAN DO. This is COMMUNITY. This is YOUR SUPPORT.
