Christmas in the City is an annual event held at the Bayside Expo Center in Boston, Massachusetts. The event is an all volunteer weekend bringing in 12.000 children and parents who live in homeless shelters in the surrounding area. The affair starts well before the holiday season, with donations from hundreds of individuals who either give money or take lists with items that children have put on their wish lists for Christmas. The day before the big celebration, volunteers come together at the Expo center to decorate and set up. At the beginning of the day the building is merely an empty warehouse, but by the end of the day, it is covered in handmade decorations, balloons and Christmas trees. The children arrive the next day with their parents to cartoon characters and clowns walking around, a stage with performers that range from gospel choirs to break dancing troupes, a nice lunch and, the best part, a winter wonderland. The Winter Wonderland is a room that is set aside and closed off for the first part of the day, to be opened after lunch, and is filled with carnival rides, a petting zoo and sports stars. The day concludes with a visit from Santa Claus and the giving of the presents, where each child is given one of the gifts that he or she put on a wish list. There are also gift bags given by age and sex and a gift bag given to the mothers.

I have done this event twice, and have found it to be really uplifting. It is a lot of work for the volunteers, but with such great organization, I have found it to be a wonderful way to spend a holiday weekend. While the actual day may be tiring and hectic, the most beautiful thing is hearing the mothers talk about how nice it is to see their children get what they wanted for Christmas. I know that this event is a far cry from solving the problems of homelessness, but it serves as a simple reminder that people deserve something nice, and in being someone who can make a child smile or give a single mom a day where they are not constantly worrying about their kids, I’d like to think that I’ve helped.