Christmas Bureau Snapshot: Chris Peters

Editor’s note: Christmas Bureau recipients come to the bureau for food vouchers, toys and candy. Every person has a story to tell. Reporter Rebecca Nappi is collecting some of those stories.

Age: 32.

Lives in: Spokane Valley.

We took my 3-year-old son, Christian, to see Santa Claus the other night and I said, “What do you want from Santa Claus?” He said, “I don’t really care what I get. I just want to see Santa Claus.” That was one of the best moments we had in the last week.

I’ve been laid off for two months now. I was a mason for a construction company and most all of us were laid off. In the boom times, everything was good. Money was coming in. We were busy all the time. The bills were getting paid. They let us know over a period of time that the jobs, and the economy, were slowing down. We knew it was coming. We were prepared. We started saving a little money each paycheck to get Christmas taken care of and bills paid up. My wife is working, thank heaven.

I’d like to work year-round and never have to do this Christmas Bureau again, even though the people are friendly, and they give good toys. I’m hoping the new president will bring the economy back.

I grew up in the Spokane Valley. At Christmas one year, we went on a sleigh ride in Cheney. I was about 8. The guy out there gave about 30 kids a ride for two hours in the snow. Everybody had blankets. We sat in the hay. I’m trying to create happy memories for my son, too, so he can look back and say he had a good life growing up, and things went pretty easy.