by Edith Cody-Rice
Shortly before Christmas, one of Santa’s elves escaped from North Pole workshops to make spirit raising visits to Mississippi Mills businesses. That elf was Mary O’Reilly, who donned an elf costume and decided to visit and promote the businesses in our town. The Millstone asked her about this project which she undertook spontaneously to bring Christmas joy. I shall let her tell the story in her own words.
I have lived in Ceder Hill for about 4 years now and I have lived in the Mississippi Mills area for over 20 years. I have been involved in the community mostly through my puppetry surrounding the Puppets Up puppet festival in Almonte. I work in recreation in long term care, however I have been off work for a while this year, which means I couldn’t wear my Elf costume for the residents this Christmas. I purchased the costume online last year to make the residents at my work laugh and it did. I knew that I could pull off the Elf silliness as it comes naturally to me.
These past few years have been very difficult for many people and the holidays can be especially difficult. I wasn’t really feeling the Christmas spirit myself until I woke up one morning and I saw the coat from the Elf costume hanging on my coat rack. I decided in that moment to put the costume on and visit ONE store where I knew a bunch of staff. The response was overwhelming and customers were enjoying the Elf too so I decided to go visit a few more places and get photos to prove it. I knew I wanted to share the photos online and I thought what better way to promote the amazing businesses we have in this great little town? Now I was on a mission to visit as many businesses as I could before Christmas. I would visit each business, explain what I am doing, ask if they would like me to get a photo in their store and then I would ask for help to stage or take the photo if I needed. I did this project solely for fun. The response in person and online kept me motivated to continue. I was overwhelmed by the response from the community. It was truely magical. I apologize for anyone I missed but I do plan to bring Elf back next year.
Mary posted her puckish photos on Facebook And aren’t we glad. Looking forward to welcoming you back next year Mary.
