Among the many activities at Breakfast with Santa at the Syracuse Community Center was making hot cocoa ornaments. Counterclockwise from left are Zoey Havenga, Jen Schulien, Serenity Dunn, Brookelynn Penrod, Rylie Penrod and Alex Dunn of Milford. “We’ve come the last three years,” said Schulien.(Photo by David Hazledine

SYRACUSE — The Syracuse Community Center, 1013 N. Long Dr., was as busy as Santa’s workshop Saturday, Dec. 2, as friends and families gathered to enjoy Breakfast with Santa,  featuring a pancake breakfast provided by the Wawasee Kiwanis Club, live music from the Wawasee High School Christmas Band, sleigh rides, a host of arts and crafts and, of course, some one-on-one time with Santa Claus himself, sponsored by the Knights of Columbus.

Included in the activities was the opportunity to not only write a letter to Santa, but receive a response. Serenity Dunn of Milford dispensed with the usual gift request. “I asked Santa to have a nice Christmas,” she said simply.

Enjoying the Kiwanis’ pancake breakfast are, from left, Vicky Vorhis of Syracuse and Charlotte Powell, Owen Powell, Emily Powell of Pierceton.

Charlotte Powell of Pierceton, on the other hand, was feeling more ambitious. Rather than sugar plums, she had visions of dinosaurs dancing in her head, and while she waited for her toddler brother, Owen Powell, to work up the courage to meet Santa, she enjoyed her sausage and pancake breakfast with grandmother Vicky Vorhis, Syracuse and mother, Emily Powell.

“I want a dinosaur,” stated Charlotte, and while the winged pterodactyl is her favorite, she is also fond of “the ones with long necks.”

Meanwhile, in the Syracuse-Wawasee Historical museum, Linda Clemons, daughter of Jamie Clemons, the museum’s director, led a craft table where attendees created “reindeer food” for Rudolph, Dasher, Dancer and the rest of Santa’s team. In small bags, children combined bird seed, pink lemonade powder, rice crispies, oats and spices and then shook vigorously to mix the ingredients together.

Making ‘reindeer food” are, from left, Braxton Eaton, Kolton Eaton of Syracuse and Linda Clemons, who led the historical museum’s craft table.

“Before you go to bed, sprinkle the food in the yard for the reindeer,” Clemons advised.

A  slightly more earthbound sleigh was making the rounds outside the center. For nearly 30 years, Steve Cornelius of Syracuse, has given sleigh rides during the holiday season. This year, he brought Dick, a large but gentle mix of the Percheron and Shetland pony breeds, to pull a wheeled sleigh through the center’s parking lot and nearby North Long Drive.

Steve Cornelius of Syracuse has been giving holiday sleigh rides for 30 years.

The Syracuse-Turkey Creek Township Public Library was also in attendance, providing reindeer craft kits. And the Syracuse Boy Scouts of America Troop 728 handed out freshly-baked cookies, pausing briefly for a group photo with Santa Claus.

Tyler McLead, program director at the Syracuse Community Center estimated the number of attendees at well over 500 individuals. The event, he said, began at the Lakeland Youth Center around 35 years ago and moved to the center after its construction in 2002.

Boy Scout Troop 728 posed with Santa. Front, from left, are Colten Coburn, Jackson Hayes, Caleb Nixon, Ales Nixon. In back are, from left, Donald Curry, Bryce Nixon, Scott DeWitt, Dylan DeWitt, Carter Bowman.

Wawasee High School Christmas Band

Serenity Dunn composes a letter to Santa. “Have a nice Christmas,” she wrote.

Alex Nixon, BSA Troop 728, serves up freshly baked cookies.

Wawasee Kiwanis members and Syracuse neighbors Larry Winkler, left, and Tom Hoover helped serve hundreds of pancake breakfasts Saturday, Dec. 2.