Around this time of year, all little kids are just itching to jump up on Santa’s lap and tell him all about how they’ve been good boys and girls this year, then tick off all the things they want for Christmas. But that’s not so easy for kids who have a hard time communicating.
Hearts around the world, when word got out about one little girl’s experience when she was sitting on the big guy’s lap.
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Mali Williams-Cody, who was just three-years-old at the time, isn’t deaf or hard of hearing, but she does have developmental delays that make it hard for her to talk.
She and her family had just gotten out of a movie at a mall in Middlesbrough, England, that day when her grandmother spotted Santa holding court nearby. The family didn’t know Mark Pinder at the time, but he just happened to be close by and captured what happened next in a video that soon went viral.
“Sorry, she can’t talk very well,” Mali’s mom, Suzanne, tells Santa.
His next words come as a shock: “Can she sign at all?”
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Well, funny you should ask! Mali had just started learning sign language several months earlier, and while she wasn’t completely fluent, she’d probably pick up the gist if he kept it simple. And so they had a little chat, and Mali’s face is bright and shining the entire time!
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Raymond Cody, Mali’s dad, said he and Suzanne were blown away at Santa’s effort, saying it made “Mali’s experience so special for her and our family at this special time of year.”
“It was a beautiful moment, the elves and on-lookers all welled up,” agreed the videographer, Mark Pinder, who’s also seen this particular Santa signing simple words like “Hello,” “Thank you” and “Good bye” to children from China and Russia. “It touched us all and made a little girl’s Christmas.”
Watch this magical moment unfold in the clip below, and share if you agree this is one heck of a Santa!
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