Christmas came a couple of days early this year for Park Place Nursing & Rehab Center residents.

Valle Grande Mexican Grill visited Park Place on Tuesday, preparing lunch for residents and giving them presents.

The Christmas party left many of the patients and restaurant staff members with big smiles.

“This part to me is very, very heartwarming— because we get to see the excitement on their face,” restaurant employee Dena Williamson said. “We get to be able to enjoy this moment with them.”

Since early December, the grill has been encouraging the public to collect wish lists from Park Place residents that were hung on a Christmas tree at the restaurant.

Those gifts were presented to its recipients Tuesday.

The restaurant received enough support, which included clothes, movies and more, to give to all 103 patients.

Residents smiled and thanked Valle Grande Mexican Grill for their generosity. “They’re like children on Christmas morning,” said Dianne Fair, the assistant activity director for Park Place. “When they get whatever it is that they asked for, the smile is just worth a lifetime.”

Fair said it’s amazing for Valle Grande Mexican Grill to visit Park Place personally to serve lunch, because the patients rarely get an opportunity to eat food outside of the meals prepared by the nursing home.

“They don’t always have family to take them out, and some that do are limited,” Fair said. “To have someone to give back and come here and do it personally in their home, makes them feel so comfortable.”