Santa starts Christmas delivery early with trip to Stollery Children’s Hospital

Christmas came early to the Stollery Children's Hospital on Monday as Santa stopped by on a Griffon helicopter.

Santa Claus made an early trip to Edmonton on Monday, and without his usual crew.

• Sign up for breaking news alerts from CTV News Edmonton, right at your fingertips

A Royal Canadian Air Force CH-146 Griffon helicopter from 408 Tactical Helicopter Squadron flew Santa to the rooftop of the Stollery Children’s Hospital so that he could visit and deliver presents to patients.

His arrival was livestreamed, much to the amusement of the children who watched the helicopter land.

He then handed out stuffed animals and candy.

“(I) got a little stuffed animal penguin from him, so I’ll be sleeping with him. Nice to have another buddy while waiting for a transplant here,” said Brendan Ritchie, who is in need of a lung.

“I guess that’s the Christmas wish for this year. It’s going to be a long recovery after, which is unfortunate, but it’s good to have stuff like this happen, you know, lift the spirits. Especially around the holidays.”

Margie Khan, the mother of Asher, a young leukemia patient, added, “He’s having fun here. It’s really fun here.”

That kind of joy is no small feat, said the Stollery’s Jill Painter.

“When you have to be in the hospital at Christmas, it loses its magic. So days like this really mean so much to children and families,” Painter said, adding, “I was up on the helipad when Santa landed and I had tears in my eyes because I was so excited to bring him down to see the kids in the hospital. It’s just a very magical day for us.”

Santa himself said it brings him joy, too, to visit the hospital.

“It means everything.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Cam Wiebe