Thousands of Santas meet with children every year whether it’s at the mall, a community event or even coming down the chimney. 

And although each jolly Santa provides the same sense of holiday magic, many kids wonder who the real Santa is. 

Roy Brenton said when kids ask him he says although he is not the real Santa, he’s a “delegate.”  

He tells them, “Santa Claus chooses people that are willing to do things without asking for anything in return, and once you start doing things for other people without expecting anything in return, you will develop the spirit of Santa Claus.”

But according to Brenton, acts of kindness can bring so much more than that. 

Brenton and his family hosted a Christmas party on Saturday, Dec. 9 at the Wareham-New Bedford Elks Lodge Post #73, which included free food, entertainment and pictures with Santa and Mrs. Claus. 

Brenton said the idea for the party began when his granddaughter told him he needed to grow out his beard in order to be Santa Claus. 

He said he stopped several years ago and another relative stood in last year as Santa, but as far as she was concerned, everyone knows her grandpa as the ultimate Santa Claus.

And so Brenton agreed to become Santa again, but under the condition his granddaughter would be one of his elves for their upcoming family event. Then, more elves from his family and friends joined the mix.

As more people got involved, Brenton decided to open it up to the public. However, he wanted to ensure it was an affordable, magical experience for everyone.

“Families don't have to pay a dime for anything.” He said, “We wanted to make it a family fun party where families don't have to worry about the cost of everything.”

The party also included a Toys for Tots collection drive.

The Elks donated the lodge’s space for a few hours. Brenton only ended up having to purchase costumes and he managed to get 23 volunteers for the event. 

“Nobody's being paid,” Brenton said. “Everybody's doing this from the heart, and that's really the spirit of Christmas.”

Among the volunteers was his friend Steve Wingert who was Buddy the Elf and Anabell “Bella” Gomes who sang for the event. Gomes was in charge of leading the elves in their performances as “Bella and the Elves.”

One performance by Bella and the Elves was “This Little Light of Mine,” where the kids all held battery-operated candles while singing and dancing for the audience. 

Along with the skits and songs, Brenton had another activity planned that he felt would be a unique experience for the kids: a snowball fight with Santa.

“Nobody's ever been in a snowball fight with Santa and I don't understand that because at the North Pole there’s a lot of snow,” Brenton said.

Although the Elks did not have actual snow, Brenton had plenty of artificial snowballs that were throwable, but soft enough not to hurt. 

However, amid the chaos of the snowball fight, someone else decided to join the party. 

In the back of the room, the Grinch quietly began stealing the gifts donated for Toys for Tots. But he could not have picked a more inopportune time as the kids turned from throwing snowballs at each other, to throwing them at the Grinch. 

This was until Santa stepped in to ask why Grinch was behaving so poorly. The Grinch explained he was lonely. And so, through the power of friendship and a big group hug, the Grinch’s heart grew three times in size and he promised to be kind if he could stay at the party.

Everyone then continued on celebrating the Christmas season with more songs and pictures with Santa and Mrs. Claus.