Chelsea Smith and her family don't just give gifts at Christmas. They give back.
When she was 3 months old, around Christmas 1988, Chelsea underwent emergency open-heart surgery at a Seattle hospital because of complications caused by a large hole in her heart.
For the next five weeks her parents, Randy and Melody, and her older brother, Justin, lived at a nearby Ronald McDonald House - a charitable arm of the McDonald's restaurant chain, where families can temporarily stay in affordable, residential settings while their children are hospitalized.
On Christmas that year, as Chelsea recovered, 5-year-old Justin unwrapped a toy guitar and other gifts provided by the Ronald McDonald House in Seattle.
Now, Chelsea is 22, healthy and planning to attend nursing school in Pueblo. A year ago, she came up with an idea: Instead of exchanging gifts only with family members, she suggested they repay the kindness they received during her hospitalization, and provide gifts to residents of the Ronald McDonald House in Colorado Springs.
On Friday, for the second straight year, Chelsea, Justin, their parents and grandparents, her fiance and cousins played Santa Claus. They brought several hundred dollars worth of brightly wrapped toys, warm blankets and large bins of soap, shampoo and other toiletries to the Ronald McDonald House on Logan Avenue.
They hope to turn the gift distribution into an annual event. Donating money is fine, but Chelsea said she enjoys the personal interaction with Ronald McDonald House residents.
"Anybody can donate to anything," she said. "But it's different if you actually go through with it, and get involved in it and make it a bigger deal."
Melody said Christmas was the last thing on the family's mind when Chelsea was hospitalized years ago. But the Ronald McDonald House provided everything they needed to celebrate.
"She's (Chelsea) seen pictures and heard stories. She said, ‘that's what we need to do'," said Melody. She and Randy live in Pueblo West; they grew up in Colorado Springs and the family lived here in the 1990s.
The Ronald McDonald House gift distribution has become a major undertaking. The Smiths started in late October, and family members, including some from out of state and one from Canada, donated money and gifts, Chelsea said.
Johnny Smith, Chelsea's grandfather and the bible minister at the Friendship Assembly of God Church in Colorado Springs, said family members shop at several stores; last year, some retailers donated items when they learned what the Smiths were planning.
"We know how important it is to have some shoulder to lean on, to have someone actually present a gift to you," he said.
The Ronald McDonald House, he added, is "more than a building and much more than just a function. It's part of people's lives."
For Jennifer Olguin, of Rocky Ford, who is staying at the Ronald McDonald House with her three children while an infant son is hospitalized at nearby Memorial Hospital Central, the gifts were greatly appreciated.
"They probably have presents at home, but they're not going to open them for a while," she said of her kids. "It's a good thing that they get presents, to have fun and have some kind of a Christmas."
Jennifer's 1-year-old, Joseline, held a small stuffed elephant, while 3-year-old Adelina opened a Dora the Explorer dress-up trunk. Five-year-old Ricardo, meanwhile, played with a Tonka fire engine.
"Santa Claus is nice," Ricardo said.
So are Chelsea and her family, and the Ronald McDonald House.
ABOUT THE RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE
The first Ronald McDonald House opened in Philadelphia in 1974, started, in part, by a local physician, a McDonald's restaurant executive in that city and a member of the Philadelphia Eagles football team, whose daughter suffered from leukemia.
Ronald McDonald House Charities now include 300 Ronald McDonald Houses around the world, which provide temporary residences for families while their children are hospitalized. Ronald McDonald family rooms - offering similar services, except for sleeping - operate inside many hospitals.
In Colorado Springs, the Ronald McDonald House opened Feb. 14, 1987, at 311 N. Logan Ave.; it's one of three in the state.
The house, a half-block south of Memorial Hospital Central, can accommodate nine families. It has nine bedrooms, five bathrooms, two kitchens, two dining areas, a family room and a living room. Families have access to TVs, computers and meals.
The house operates with a handful of staffers, and about 150 volunteers assist at the house and Ronald McDonald family rooms at Memorial Hospital and St. Francis Medical Center.