Eleven-year-old Bryce McFeeters of St. Thomas, Ont., loves two things: Santa and Coca-Cola, his mom says.
So when the opportunity came for the Coca-Cola holiday truck to pull up in front of the family home last week, Karrie McFeeters jumped at the chance for her son, who has autism and is non-verbal, to experience it.
It all started with a Facebook post.
Bryce "is really hard to buy for for Christmas, and so my friend had tagged me in a post for some free Coke posters. He's very visual and would love just to see Coca-Cola on his wall," Karrie recalled.
It's hard for us to co-ordinate going somewhere and getting a picture taken. It's too loud, it's too noisy ... too many people and it just overwhelms him.- Karrie McFeeters, speaking about son Bryce
But by the time she got around to requesting the posters, they were gone.
That's when fellow St. Thomas mom Raemie O'Brien messaged Karrie. O'Brien's husband, Jamie O'Brien, is the vending manager for Coke Canada Bottling in London, Ont., and a volunteer for the Coca-Cola Holiday Caravan Tour, featuring a semi-trailer driven by Santa Claus and painted red with a giant image of Saint Nicholas. The truck tours Canada, making stops at various spots.
It didn't take long for Karrie's idea to come together.
Santa visits are difficult
Bryce communicates with a hand-held electronic device called a talker, and in recent days had been asking to see Santa, said Karrie.
"He'll type in 'Santa' and his talker will say 'Santa,' and so he's following us around the house saying, 'Santa, Santa, Santa.'"
But visiting a mall Santa isn't easy, she said.
"It's hard for us to co-ordinate going somewhere and getting a picture taken. He's just not comfortable. It's too loud, it's too noisy, it's too many colours, too many people and it just overwhelms him, so he can't even enjoy himself."
Last Wednesday, when Jamie was out with the holiday truck at the Ronald McDonald House charity in London, Raemie texted her husband to see if Santa would record a video message for Bryce.
"Then about 10 minutes later, my husband calls me and he says, 'Santa is in the Christmas spirit this year, he wants to actually bring the truck to St. Thomas and surprise Bryce,'" Raemie said.
"I have been volunteering with the Coca-Cola holiday truck tour for the past two years and seeing the joy it brings people," said Jamie. "When my wife told me about Bryce it just seemed like the right thing to do. I knew he would love it."
WATCH | The moment the holiday truck rolled up to the McFeeters family home to surprise Bryce:
The truck rolled up at the McFeeters family's home about 8 p.m. on Wednesday.
"He was overwhelmed at first," McFeeters said about Bryce. "He couldn't believe it, and then he was just so excited and just kept staring at the truck and at Santa.
"He thought he was pretty special that he got to sit in the truck and honk the horn," Karrie said. "There's no way that we could ever thank everybody that was involved in this. He just feels so special. He actually did a presentation at school about his Santa visit and it's just been amazing, the whole thing."
And what does Bryce want for Christmas now? Coke, his mom says.
