SANATOGA PA – As Saturday evening (Dec. 4, 2010) drew closer, Nathanial Bartholomew (above at left) and his brother Alexander, got more and more excited. They were going to meet Santa! And they were going to have spaghetti for dinner!

Who can blame them if they spent just a little more time with the spaghetti?

The boys, sons of Lower Pottsgrove Township residents Catherine and Nathanial Bartholomew, were among a few hundred people (below) who turned out at the Sanatoga Fire Company, 2222 E. High St., Pottstown PA, between 4 and 6:30 p.m. for the firefighters’ annual “Spaghetti With Santa” fund-raiser. They weren’t the only ones, by the way, with a little sauce on their mugs; plenty of adults were messy too.

The Crooked Hill Ridge Runners, as members of the fire company are known, hold several events throughout the year to supplement the organization’s revenues. Santa’s dinner ranks with some patrons as among the most popular. All township firefighters and fire police – at Sanatoga and the Ringing Hill Fire Company – are volunteers who donate their time to conduct the dinner and other activities, just as they do in battling blazes or training for them.

So it was no surprise to find the Sanatoga kitchen (above) packed with an array of helping hands, who did everything from ladle out tomato sauce and meatballs, to filling roll plates and salad bowls (below), and serving dinners to anxious and hungry guests (further below).

Santa, the primary honoree and the guy whose lap was the most favored sitting spot in town, held court from a makeshift throne and nearby Christmas tree in the fire station’s entrance hall. He was the first person kids were likely to see as they walked through the door with their parents. Some were smiling; many had wide eyes and dropped jaws as Santa waved and offered his best “ho-ho-ho.”

Township Fire Marshal Lew Babel (above at right) stopped by for a chat. Was it rain or reindeer they were discussing? No one quite knew …

… and Santa made himself some new friends, too.