Most of us can remember visiting Santa in the mall when we were kids. It wasnโt Christmas unless weโd sat on Santaโs knee and told him exactly what we were hoping to get under the tree this year.
It might have made some good last-minute inspiration for our parents, or it might have left them horrified to hear that we wanted a swimming pool and the latest sold-out Barbie โ especially as Santa never says no.
Or Santaโs not supposed to say no, anyway.
Unfortunately, one Santa in Harlem Irving Plaza shopping mall in Northridge, Illinois, didnโt seem to get the memo.
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A video filmed by another person in the queue showed Santaโs interaction with a little boy who wanted a fairly innocent present, cost-wise: a Nerf gun.
Being socially distanced this year, the kid wasnโt on Santaโs lap at the time โ and it was probably for the best.
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The Santa flat-out refused the little boyโs request, saying he couldnโt deliver any guns to the childโs home.
Even when his mom could be heard clarifying, โNerf gunโ off-camera, thinking Santa had misheard and thought the child had simply asked for a gun, he said, โNo, not even a Nerf gunโ.
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He explained to the little boy, whose name is Michael, that his dad could buy him a Nerf gun, but Santa wasnโt going to be delivering it for him.
He then asked Michael to think of what else he wanted, and the poor kid couldnโt think of anything.
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In less than half a second, Santa had crushed the dreams of a little boy who wanted an innocent toy gun for Christmas.
The toys little children play with arenโt designed to be taken literally. Kids play all sorts of imaginative games that theyโd never follow through with in real life.
Everyone knows this โ and so should Santa. But this guy apparently didnโt.
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Things got really awkward when Michael heartbreakingly began to cry, and Santa, socially distanced across the table from him, offered words of reassurance that did nothing to stop his tears.
Eventually, Michaelโs mom placed his baby sister on the seat beside him and knelt down to give him a hug.
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The video was posted to Twitter with the caption โHow did nobody in this line including the mother step up and give the fat man in the suit a piece of their mind?โ
It went viral, with more than 100,000 views โ and thankfully, it was picked up by the right people.
Not only had Michael been sent an outpouring of gifts, the mall apparently fired the โwokeโ Santa.
They also arranged for another Santa to personally hand-deliver a top-of-the-range Nerf gun to his front door as an early Christmas present.
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Sharing a much more uplifting video of this visit to Facebook, a representative of the mall wrote:
โThe HIP and our third-party Santa company are distraught and deeply apologetic about the unfortunate incident which occurred at Santa set on December 6, as both parties strive for families and their children to have a happy holiday experience.
โSanta is heartbroken and crushed that he has made this child so sad and upset, and turned in his resignation. The Santa company will continue to remind all Santaโs [sic] how important it is to not impose personal opinions during visits with the children.
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HIP immediately contacted the family and worked with our Santa company in hopes of rectifying the situation. We are happy to report that the โrealโ Santa visited the boy at his home today to bring him a nerf gun! We hope we restored Christmas magic to this boy and his family with Santaโs special visit.โ
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You can watch the uplifting video of the โrealโ Santa gifting little Michael with his dream Nerf gun in the video below.
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