Christmas comes early for hundreds of Calgary families

WATCH ABOVE: Magic of Christmas delivers gifts to the less fortunate

CALGARY – Hundreds of Calgary families received an early visit from Santa on Wednesday.

St. Nick and his elves arrived in Calgary at the crack of dawn on Christmas Eve to hand out gifts and holiday food hampers.

With a little help from The Magic of Christmas, they reached 480 families, 30 more families than their original goal.

“It’s just nice that we have the opportunity to do this. I’ve been to a lot of other cities where this kind of thing just doesn’t happen,” said Santa.

At first some of the families seemed overwhelmed by all of the attention, but the kids were quick to warm up to Santa.

Even the parents were surprised with gifts.

 “I’m very surprised.. because when I was adult I never receive a gift from Santa. Oh my god, I can’t believe it”

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First-time elf Kara MacInnes said the charity got a boost in donations this year, after a big drop last year, thanks to their first-ever motorcycle toy run.

READ MORE: Christmas comes early on last full day of summer in Calgary

“I’m kind of speechless. There’s nothing that I can say that would describe what just happened,” said McInnes, after helping to hand out the gifts.

Last year, the flood contributed to a drop in donations.

Watch: Charity ‘The Magic of Christmas’ needs some help of its own

Organizers said it is nice to see donations pick-up again this year.

The Magic of Christmas is now in its 31^st year.