Breakfast with Santa

St. Nick visits The Inn in Preston

KINGWOOD — For 10 years, children have been enjoying breakfast with Santa at The Inn. This year, tables were filled with families waiting for Santa to arrive.

Santa (Matthew Bright) came through the door and all of the children in the room quit eating and turned their attention to him.

“Merry Christmas,” he said, going from table to table to greet each child. “I’ll be in the back room when you’re done eating your breakfast.”

Bright said he has been listening to children’s Christmas wish lists for 30 years. Ten of these years has been at The Inn.

One of the first children to line up to speak with Santa was Areena Rose Harrison, a first grader at West Preston School.

“I like that Santa gives me presents,” she said. “I like his magic reindeer.”

Her grandmother, Terri Funk Sypolt, who accompanied her said Santa wasn’t the only thing she was excited about. She said Areena was also excited that pancakes were being served at the breakfast.

Mike and Jessica Lipscomb and their two children were also there to see Santa. Two-month-old Blaine let Santa hold him, while his sister Dylan told Santa about the presents she would like to find under the tree. Once Dylan was finished, the family posed for a photo with Santa.

“She was really excited to see Santa,” Jessica said.

Lindsey Miller and Dakota Garlitz took time out to let their daughter Madaline meet Santa for the first time. Although Madaline declined to tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas, she did accept a candy cane.

While the other children lined up, Mrs. Claus (Karen Bright, who was not in costume this year) stood by to help Santa with the kids.

“I dress up as Mrs. Santa sometimes,” she said. “But I didn’t want to detract from Santa this year.”

“It’s been 30 years,” Bright said about his yearly transformation into Santa. “And it’s still a lot of fun doing it.”

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