Children

When Father Christmas Came to Town: A COVID Success Story

Whether you call him Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Kris Kringle or one of his many other aliases, we all know Santa Claus is a shrewd fellow. Even COVID-19 couldn’t stump him for long. Stopped in his tracks by a pandemic? No sir!

If the children couldn’t come to Santa this year, then the magic of Santa Claus would come to the children — in the form of a video, and some treats delivered by his elves. As mentioned in an earlier article on The Kingsville Times the Jolly Old Elf had a plan.

Father Christmas made his presence — and his presents! — felt in Kingsville in 2020, with a little help from his friends.  Kim DeYong, Bob Lynch and Quantum Sound Production were happy to lend a hand.

Bob Lynch is a kindhearted and endearing Father Christmas. He didn’t hesitate when Kim DeYong asked if he’d play Santa. He asked if Lauren and Morgan DeYong would be able to assist and they were thrilled to play the role of elves.

 Parents in the Kingsville area were invited to register their children to have their names written on Santa’s Nice List. Gary Glass of Quantum Sound Productions offered up his studio and created amazing videos, working within a small window of time to get them edited and ready to go. They were made available by Quantum Sound Productions, Bob Lynch and Kimberly DeYong.

Videos of Father Christmas reading the names of Kingsville kids on the Nice List were made and links emailed to parents on Christmas Eve Eve. The children would get to see and hear Santa read out their very own names and listen, spellbound, as he shared a Christmas story.

DeYong told The Times that she’s heard back from several parents since the videos were aired.  Their children were thrilled and so excited when they heard Santa read their names. “It was a joy spreading a bit of holiday magic during these unprecedented times,” she said.

“A couple parents even sent video clips of their kids watching their names be read by Santa and it gave me all the feels watching their joy,” said DeYong.

Some parents shared their treasured home-made videos with us. This first video was taken by Ryan Lowrie and edited by Sheri Lowrie. It shows their two children Jackson and Shae watching their Father Christmas video.

The second video was taken by Amanda Clark. It shows her daughter Kacey who is transfixed watching Father Christmas on her video.

And of course, things got even more exciting for the kids when they discovered the treat bags left by the Santa’s elves. Over 400 children received treat bags delivered by Kingsville Elves Laura Lucier, Robyn Braybrook-Gard, Morgan DeYong, Lauren DeYong and Kimberly DeYong.

These treat bags were made possible  by the generous sponsors: Dennis Bailey Painting, Ian Murray Desjardins Insurance, Stanton Construction & Restoration, Tamara Stomp Law and Stacey Jones Realty.

“I received messages from a handful of people that missed out on signing up for the event,” DeYong said. “We had created a general message from Father Christmas and had extra treat bags on hand. About a dozen more children were delivered a treat bag after the initial delivery was completed.”

If you missed all the excitement the first time around, now you can catch the video below, which was shared on social media by DeYong. It’s a general message sent out from Father Christmas to the community.

Christmas has been strange this year. We’ve had a lot to contend with. We’re missing the people we love, and many of our cherished traditions have suffered.

Stressful times have a way of squeezing creativity out of some people. Special events planned by thoughtful members of our community have created some bright spots. The Father Christmas event is a prime example of this.

Even though we’ve been through a different and difficult sort of Holiday Season, we hope yours held some joy. And may we all move into a better year ahead in 2021.

Photos and Father Christmas video provided by Quantum Sound Productions

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