Logwood Park’s Santa Claus

Mrs Claus?

Maybe not, but to the children of Logwood Park Avenue – a little lane off Mannings Hill Road in Kingston – 55 year-old Delrose Wheeler is the closest they will come to a gift-bearing Santa.

For the past nine years, she has made sure that each child has gotten a Christmas gift at the annual party that she has for them. What started off as simply a little get-together for about 75 kids from the lane, has evolved into a much anticipated treat that this year will cater to 200 children – some from surrounding avenues.

“The word has spread throughout the community, so now everyone has it down to come to Aunt Tit’s treat. This year we will have about 200 kids, plus parents,” said the somewhat reserved Wheeler in an interview with all woman.

The treat is an event that the retired nurse starts planning early each year and by September plans are in full gear. It is a task to which not only Wheeler, but also her two daughters, Tania Skyland Stewart and Maria Hew, are completely committed.

“Each year, starting January we are able to get the Christmas decorations and the party bags and the toys on sale – at sometimes up to 90 per cent off and that is when we purchase them. And we do that come Valentine’s Day, Easter and all the other holidays to follow,” said Skyland Stewart in an e-mail to the Observer.

“We purchased all these things because that is the only way we can aid our mother to give children in the community a Christmas treat. She would bake her famous carrot and have one of the neighbourhood guys ‘go pick some green lime over Robin yawd, call out im name, mine the dawgs.’ She would serve sandwiches, Kool Aid and carrot cake for dessert.”

Both Skyland Stewart and Hew live in the United States.

“I am so excited about this project. It is something that I have done many times before and it gives me great joy to be able to provide the children with a little Christmas joy,” said Hew, in an e-mail after making a quick visit to Logwood Park to bring down some of the toys and food for the treat. She and Skyland Stewart will return a couple days before Boxing Day when the treat will be held.

“This year we are introducing the theme of the ‘Logwood Park Idol.’ There will be a kids’ singing contest with money and prizes for the winners and other contestants ‘brave’ enough to step up to the challenge,” said Hew.

According to Wheeler, her yard has always been like a magnet for the kids from the lane, from as far back as she could remember. Perhaps because of the space – it is the biggest yard in the lane – or the warm reception, kids could always be seen in the yard, said Wheeler.

That was also evident when all woman visited and the children were only too happy to share their thoughts on the treat. “I come every year and have been to all nine. I love the games, the food and the camera,” says 14 year-old Amoy Campbell. “Aunt Tit (Wheeler) has a strong love for us and always thinks of us. Even when she travels overseas she brings back gifts for us. She is like a second mom.”

“Nowadays I help her to plan the treat and to wrap the gifts. My favourite treat was in 1998, when I danced with another girl and it was videotaped. Aunty Tit carried it abroad and showed everyone.”

Indeed Wheeler herself speaks of the flurry of activities in the week before the treat – from staying up all night to wrap the gifts for all the children, to cooking and baking the food.

“My daughters come and do the cooking. I will help out, but I do the baking.

A couple of the older children will come and help to wrap the gifts. Sometimes we sit up all night because we make sure that every child gets something,” she said while showing all woman a section of her yard that had been cleared for the treat this year.

“Normally we have it in the yard but it is outgrowing the yard now. I don’t have enough space, so last week I got a bulldozer and a truck to come and clear the place across from my house. There was an old building there and we took it down. One parent, Leroy McPherson, helped me with that,” she said.

Now she is in the process of getting some chairs.

“Normally they would sit on the walls around my house but since that is not enough anymore, I will have to get some chairs. I am not so sure yet how I am going to do that. But apart from the chairs and getting the sodas or drinks as well as some ice-cream, we are pretty much set,” said Wheeler while quickly emphasising that no alcohol is consumed at the treat.

“Some parents will come with their children but we explain that because it is for the children there is no alcohol. It is not a dance,” she said. Wheeler, who was born and raised in the area before migrating to the United States in the 1980s, was particularly proud of last year’s treat.

“We had a Santa Claus. I had initially bought a Santa suit – one size fits all, but it could not fit me so I had to find someone slimmer to do it. It fit a young lady I knew so she came with her big red bag as Mrs Claus to distribute the toys,” said Wheeler, who spends most of her time in Jamaica.

“We give crayons, pencils, books – based on the size of the kids – toys, bath soap and toothpaste. We also try to give a variety of food that they might not have, normally.”

For Wheeler, Hew and Skyland Stewart, giving joy to the kids is a treat.

“The first time I was blessed to be at one of these many treats was one of the most beautiful experiences I ever had. Looking at a child after she receives a gift, she looks up at you and says ‘Tanks.’ What could be better than that?” said Skyland Stewart.