Santa Fun Run and Holiday Night of lights

 

What shows Christmas spirit better than a Santa run? On Monday December 21st, Cilla and I participated in the HoHoHoliday 5km virtual fun run, raising money for Make-a-Wish Foundation. It was also a great way to bring the magic of the holiday to the community and help us get in the festive mood, especially now that all of Ontario has entered the grey zone.

 

A few weeks before our run we received our Santa suits and finishers medals in the mail. The Santa outfits were a one-size-fits-all with Cilla’s being for kids 10 and under and mine was to fit all adult sizes. We had fun getting into our costumes and Cilla thought the beard was especially funny. The kids’ outfit didn’t include one, but mine did and Cilla was in hysterics watching me put it on. I needed quite a lot of safety pins to fit into my suit and I prayed that none would come undone while I was running.

 

Once we were ready we got into the car and drove to Taylor creek. It was fairly warm outside—only 3 degrees but very damp and there was a lot of mud and puddles on the trail. Some sections were still frozen over and I helped Cilla safely cross.

 

Trish sat this one out—dressing in a Santa outfit is not her thing—but she came down to the trail to support us and walk Dottie. Cilla was shy and nervous at first and wanted to hold my hand. It didn’t take her long to get into the spirit of things though and before I knew it she was yelling, “Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas!” to all passersby. People were loving it, returning her enthusiastic greeting. One woman yelled, ‘great job Santa, getting in shape for your big day!’ One kid yelled, ‘Santa’s a woman!’ People were smiling and kids were excited.

 

I was impressed that Cilla (aka Little Santa) ran most of it and only stopped a couple times. By the time we reached the finish line we were both covered in mud and she was pretty tired and a little sore. It was a long distance for her to go.

 

Before we got in the car we did a small award ceremony where Cilla and I got presented with our medals. She was quite proud of herself, as were we.

 

 

Later that evening we got in the car once again, this time to go see the Holiday Night of Lights in Vaughan. We arrived just a little after 5pm to see an amazing, dazzling light display. We stayed in our car and drove the 2.25 km distance while listening to Christmas tunes on the radio station provided and watching over 1 million LED lights dance, glimmer and sparkle. I rolled down my window to get a better view, and luckily the mild temperature allowed for that.

 

All the way up Cilla asked if Santa would be there. We told her that he was probably too busy right now, but sure enough, about 1.5 kilometres in, there he was sitting in one of the displays.  Cilla was just beside herself with excitement at seeing him. We unrolled her window so that she could yell “Merry Christmas” to him, which he returned heartily. It was a very magical experience and hopefully one that Cilla can take with her when some of the other things she usually gets to do this time of year are cancelled.