Five-year-old Brianna Lorzano kneeled on the floor at Carneros Elementary School, mouth agape, ripping at the red wrapping paper in front of her. “It’s a Barbie!” she yelled, “From Santa!”

It was just what Lorzano had asked for, a doctor Barbie. Pressing her fingers to the plastic case, she asked, “How did Santa know?”

Did he know, too, that she wants to be a doctor when she grows up?

Last week, the Napa Active 20-30 Club brought Christmas to local schools, giving stacks of gifts to 165 underprivileged children as a part of Project Santa. Based on principals’ recommendations, students in selected classes at the Napa Child Development Center, the Napa Preschool Program, Carneros Elementary, Los Niños and Napa Valley Language Academy received candy canes and about $60 worth of presents each. These are children who may not get to celebrate Christmas Day under an elaborate Christmas tree, and who may not spend their Christmas morning sitting among scattered leaves of wrapping paper. But on this day, these children got to spend a day with Santa himself.

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OK, so it actually was Dan Monez of Napa, but he looked and sounded an awful lot like Santa, with his white beard and hearty “ho ho ho.” And he had presents.

As kindergartners shuffled into the multi-purpose room at Carneros Elementary School and saw the jolly old man on stage, looks of amazement came over their faces. “Hi, Santa,” many shouted. Some waved. One boy covered his ears, clearly not a fan of the jingling bells.

Each child, called by name, walked to the stage to sit on Santa’s lap. Some hugged him. Some just looked confused. At the end of the exchange, each child walked away with a stack of presents — one outfit and lots of toys. Nineteen lucky kids received bikes donated to the program by a local business.

Kindergartner Ashton Rogers was a tough sell. “Santa’s right there,” he said with a puzzled look on his face, “but he doesn’t have the reindeer.” Rogers stood up, balancing his hands on his hip. “Maybe he’s just a big faker, and maybe the other one has the real presents.”

But the presents seemed to be satisfactory for Rogers, who happily dug into the boxes in front of him.

“Just the look on their face when they’re opening their gifts and they got exactly what they listed on their wish lists from Santa,” said 20-30 Club President Keli Manfred, “it really gets you into the spirit of the holidays.”

“The beauty of it for me is just the faces,” said Monez, tugging on his red suit.