VINTON, Va. – Many dads feel it is their job to make their kids laugh and smile at their fatherly antics. One dad in Vinton not only surprised his family this week but everyone on Santa’s sleigh.
The Vinton Christmas parade was canceled, but Santa still rolled through the neighborhoods.
Patrick Harper waited until Santa pulled up in front of his house to run outside in his Buddy the Elf costume and re-enact one of the movie’s iconic scenes.
Patrick pretended he was Buddy when the character learns Santa is coming to visit the department store.
Our little Town had to cancel the Christmas parade and, instead, did a Santa Crawl... Buddy the Elf made an impromptu appearance. I literally can't even with him. 🤣
Posted by Jessica Arthur Harper on Tuesday, December 8, 2020
Now, the video is getting a lot of attention.
Patrick says it was something simple he could do to spark joy.
“Even the people on the float were kind of in shock, because they weren’t sure if it was supposed to be part of the act or not. That’s the reaction I get regardless of where I’ve gone. I’ve gone through grocery stores before in the past, just walking around with the elf suit on,” said Patrick.
“I’ve actually been really surprised just by the response to this,” said Jessica, Patrick’s wife. T
The clip has been viewed thousands of times on Facebook.