Nick King photo

Staff member Meredith Lehman, left, accepts packages from Madison Swearingen, 5, who brought gifts today for patients at the MU Children’s Hospital.

Noah Poindexter will miss his grandma’s annual Christmas Eve party today, and he won’t be able to go to his great-grandma’s house tomorrow, either.

Nick King photo

Noah Poindexter, 16 months, is recovering from a respiratory illness and will spend Christmas in the hospital.

Noah, 16 months old, is recovering from a respiratory illness that has kept him bedridden at Children’s Hospital for the past week. He’s doing better, but he isn’t going to be released until Friday, said Lindsey Poindexter, his mom.

The illness has put a dent in the Fulton family’s holiday plans. Still, Noah can rest assured tonight that Santa will know where to find him.

Jolly old St. Nick will make his annual rounds at Children’s Hospital tomorrow morning, bearing bags full of stuffed animals, toy trucks, dolls and games. Children’s Hospital staffers expect eight youngsters to be there tomorrow, but Santa will have extra gifts on hand, just in case.

The hospital has been organizing visits from Santa for at least a decade, child life specialist Meredith Lehman said. Coupled with a decorated tree in the hallway and a holiday breakfast, Santa helps hospital staff make Christmas as bright as possible for boys and girls struggling with sickness.

"It’s hard to be in the hospital any time of the year," Lehman said. "It’s unfamiliar and scary. And at Christmas, they think Santa’s going to forget about them."

But St. Nick doesn’t forget, and neither does the community. Over the past month or so, local churches, schools, businesses and residents have donated hundreds of toys; enough for every child to receive multiple presents tomorrow.

Madison Swearingen, 5, helped out, too, this year. Instead of asking for presents for herself at her Dec. 7 birthday party, she requested that her friends and classmates bring toys to donate to other children.

At the hospital this morning, she and her mom, Jenny, delivered books, dolls and other trinkets nicely packaged in festive wrapping.

Madison didn’t have much to say about her contribution, other than she thinks the kids are going to like what they get.

Jenny Swearingen said the family plans to make the hospital donations a holiday tradition. "I explained to her this was a way she could help Santa Claus," she said. "Our family is blessed in a lot of ways. Madison has a lot of family members who love her and buy gifts for her."

Noah has a supportive crew rooting for him, too. Since he can’t visit his family tomorrow, his relatives will bring the holiday to him. Family members will be dropping by, likely with a few gifts of their own, his mom said.

If there’s any advantage to being stuck in the hospital on Christmas Day, it’s that Noah can expect the gift-giving season to extend beyond Dec. 25.

"His grandparents bought him this huge truck," Lindsey Poindexter said. "They can’t bring it in here, so he’ll have to wait until he gets home for that one."

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