_@

“FromCt 2

‘Santa Clausing’ brings bet:

That includes. the Christmas of 2002 when he was ap-"~
proached to play, Santa for the Mclean family, which was

a still mourning the unexpected death of their four-year-old

_ daughter Vicki that summer.

The fairiily had seven children and were struggling with .
‘theirloss: =| ®

‘A: group of people got together to find goodies for the
. family. for Christmas, filling a box with food and another
with gifts for each of the. family’s remaining children and
dad George, and mom, Marlene.

Asnold and his wife, Mel, filled another box with goodies
and delivered the items unsuspecting family. —

“Because each one got a present they were so excited |

. they had to open each one right there i in front of Santa,” Ar--

nold recalls.

‘Among the gifts were hand painted Christmas ornaments
— bells with each of the family members’ names on them.

‘One was painted i in pastel colours with Vicki’s name on it
-.with an-angel attached to it. »

“. “One ofthe ‘special. parts \ was when they pulled out ‘the
bells and that really got to the parents, of course, and they
were really happy,” he says. -

. Marlene McLean remembers that Christmas fondly and
“says. Santa’s unexpected. visit brought a lot of j joy to the
‘grieving family. .

“To us that was really good, the kids were happy. and it
was hard that year and it was surprising that he’came by,”
McLean says. |

“J thanked him them and I want to thank him again, but it
was a really big surprise and it was good for everybody, es--
pecially with the ornaments. I still have those ornaments.”

Tt was just as special for Arnold and his wife who added
‘that visit to their Santa journal.

He also recalls visiting Terraceview Lodge one Ve year while |

a snow blizzard raged outside.
Every time he and Mrs. Claus tried to leave, another resi-

dent would come out of his or her room, stopping them in

“The g gang at Terrace Chrysler would ke to wish all their
- clients and friends a safe and happy holiday this merry season!

Co ;

— erelg Ave.

_ CHRIS ARNOLD look’ Ss through Santa’ s journal covering neatly 3 30 years of outings. SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO

their tracks. .

JBy the time they left t the building the snow had veally.
piled up.

“As we were backing 0 out we got: stuck,” Amold recalls,
laughing:

“So there is Santa Claus behind the pickup pushing and
Mrs. Claus behind the wheel trying to get unstuck.”

All the while he had a captive audience of Terraceview.
-residents. watching from inside’as they tied to make their

getaway in the stuck sleigh. — i
- And a special visit to Prince Rupert by ‘Santa just last

week will likely be added to the Santa journal.

_ Arnold ‘donned the costume and gave out gifts at that
city’ S holiday party for foster children and families.
_ As a behavioural specialist-he works closely with a peo-
ple with disabilities and at that particular party a litte boy”
_who is autistic came forward.
«, He was probably seven or eight and most.of the kids in
- front of him would throw.themselves at Santa but he walked
up cautiously,” Amold says, adding often autistic children ”

_ can have difficulties expressing themselves.

- “Before I passed him the present he very carefully stuck:
his hand out to me and in it was'a little snowman sugar cook-
ie he had iced earlier that day,” Hie says.

“He looked at me very seriously and he said, ‘Santa, 1
made this cookie for you.’

“Oh, man, he was so serious about it, that it was really
sweet.”

And that’s why the tradition called Santa Clausing has
‘ continued for nearly three decades.

“When you think about the real meariing of Christmas it
is such an easy thing to do,” Amold says.

“Every time you went out, even if you were ‘tired or
rushed because it was Christmas one of these little things
happens and it just gives you the warm fuzzies.

“Every year there is something neat that happens that
makes you want to do it again the next year.”

~ May the j joy and warmth of Christmas
stay with you throughout the year.

We'd like to take a moment to wish
all of our customers a very merry

Christmas and a Happy New Year.

y ad aN OPERATED BY

aN iy 635: 7767

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| & (HAVE A GREAT HOLIDAY!

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Here’s hoping. a great holiday is is on the program for you and .
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