Yesterday was the big day, or should I say, last night was the big night for this event.
Each year the municipality has a very special Christmas gift for the city. There's a Santa bus circulating starting from St. Nicolas day, till the end of the year. It's an initiative that has been going on for more than a decade now and I truly hope it's going to continue endlessly as it's a really joyful event, not only for kids but for adults as well.
Back when I was a kid, times were tough, we were lucky to be able to buy a Christmas tree and my parents were roaming around the city for days to be able to buy some Christmas candies and sweets to put into our Christmas gift bags.
Times have changed and today, with a little investment and a lot of good intention, you can do miracles for so many.
Each day, this bus is circulating on a different route between 5.30pm and end of shift, decorated like this. I can assure you, whoever spots the bus, stops for a minute to look at it.
The lucky ones get to ride it and for the second year, I was among them last night.
Yesterday was the first day of Christmas and when I got on the bus, it was so full there were no empty seats to sit on and I had to travel half a kilometer to get a free seat and be able to take some photos of the interior. Public transport is free on weekends, this is an incentive to park your car and go by bus and when the bus looks like this, you can't say no.
It wasn't just the Christmas decorations, there were some lights that were changing colors, that made the whole experience a lot of fun.
And there was Santa and Miss Santa, inspecting the bus at the end of the line.
Santa and Miss Santa were working together last night, waving to kids on the road and even handing out candies to kids in the front of the bus. You should have seen the reaction of those kids, seeing that not only Santa, but Miss Santa as well is waving to them and has a little surprise for them. It was priceless.
I know for a fact that many parents are taking their kids on a Santa bus ride on Christmas day, so someone at home can decorate the Christmas tree and get the presents ready.
As you can see, it doesn't take much to make kids happy this way. All it takes is a few boxes of Christmas decorations, a few lights and some Christmas themed stickers on the sides and you have a regular bus transformed into Christmas miracle. Oh, yes, give the driver and Santa hat, that costs $2 or less and pay a lady to wear a similar hat, ride the bus for a few hours in December and wave to the kids.
This wonderful event is part of the city's culture now and you should have seen how many people of all ages were riding the bus just for fun.
Can hardly wait for next year's ride π
Is there such a thing in your country? Would you like it to be?
If you're a newbie, you may want to check out these guides:
