Every year, longtime friend and supporter of La Rabida, Barbara Cronin who is the Owner and President of Design 10 Interiors, brings a team of elves to deck the halls of La Rabida. This year, she brought along a trusty sidekick, Mr. Christmas.

Matthew Doherty, also known as Mr. Christmas, brought his woodworking talents to La Rabida by designing and building beautiful, festive wood decorations for patients to enjoy.

After making wood decorations with his father, Matthew found a passion for woodworking. When he and his wife, Sherri, got married and moved into their home, his talent for creating wooden decorations began to expand. He started off by just decorating his house, and now decorates 18 houses on his block. “Sherri had shirts made about 15 years ago for all the helpers,” shares Matthew. “Mine read Mr. Christmas and the name stuck.”

When Barbara Cronin reached out to see if Matthew would be interested in making decorations for La Rabida this year, his only question was “how much of the hospital can I decorate?”

Our outpatient center was transformed into a Toy Land with incredible nutcrackers, wooden toys to play with, and scenes for kids to pop their heads into and snap photos. Up on our inpatient unit, Matthew went with a Gingerbread Land theme on one wing, and Santa’s Workshop on the other. “Each child’s room got a decoration on their door,” shares Matthew. “We had fun filling the walls with colorful scenes.”

“We love hearing the kids run up and down our block laughing and taking pictures. So to be asked to decorate the hospital was really special,” shares Matthew. “We wanted fun and cheerful decorations to give the kids some fun on trips that are hard.”

This story was featured in the December 2019 issue of eCurrents, La Rabida's monthly newsletter. To view the December issue of eCurrents, click here.