“Santa comes in on the fire truck, and we wrap gifts and pass them out,” smiles Laila Ramji, the Child Life Manager at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital, Santa Monica. “The Santa Monica Fire Department has been doing this for the past 12 years. It’s a lot of fun watching the firemen with pieces of tape, string, and wrapping paper everywhere as they wrap gifts. Then they all go into rooms with Santa to pass out early Christmas gifts. It’s a big deal for the kids, even the older ones because somebody is coming to visit them. We see superheroes all the time, but these are real-life community superheroes coming in to bring a little cheer to their day. It’s amazing watching the pure joy on children, and even the parents, faces when they see Santa and the fire department come. It reminds us that we have everyday heroes all around us.”
