Santa Claus gives children early Christmas treat

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - FOR some of the children on the island, Christmas came a bit early this year when Santa Claus arrived via cruise vessel this morning (Dec. 7) to distribute gifts and spread cheer.

Dozens of children were assembled at the Independence Square in anxious anticipation of Santa’s arrival and when he got there, his elves offloaded boxes of gifts which were to be distributed to the bright-faced young ones.

Santa Claus, who was quite interactive with the children, presented the gifts and even provided some instructions on how the toys and other goodies should be operated and or handled.

While some children verbally expressed their thanks to the St. Nick, others did so by hugging him.

The Holiday Gift Project is orchestrated by the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association – and while that entity provides the gifts, member cruise lines would have each of their vessels - visiting ports along their route - distribute the gifts to the children of that particular destination.

Each vessel would take a port, and visiting St. Kitts today was the Celebrity Eclipse of the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line.

The Human Resources Manager aboard that vessel - John Grattidge - told this publication that it has always been a pleasure for the vessel and cruise line which he represents to participate in this event.

He said is it a therapeutic exercise for the vessel’s crew especially since during this time of year, they are away from their families.

“Gift giving is part of our programme. Each of our ships go the different a port, we all take a port each and then we give gifts to children as part of our gift-giving programme. We love doing it because with the staff being away from home this time of year, just seeing the kids faces light up makes it incredibly worthwhile. We love it. …It just makes it all worthwhile and any bad week we may have had or any of our problems, they just go away and these kids are wonderful.”

According to information distributed by the Tourism Authority, this exercise took place across 40 destinations in 2015 and more than 8,000 children were in receipt of a gift.