Margaret Pannell, 60, Gateshead, NSW, nominated by Dorothy Ryan
Our family loves the silly season. But when my daughter, Margaret, lost her husband in 1981, when she was just 23, a dark cloud descended over our favourite time of year. A young mum of three, it was incredibly tough for her.
When she started working as a bus driver, Margaret got to know some of her regular passengers.
Many were elderly people who’d lost loved ones and, sadly, they had no-one to spend Christmas with. Margaret knew how that felt. So she decorated the dashboard of her bus with tinsel and played Christmas carols to cheer up her lonely passengers. And it was a hit! Around town, my girl became known as Mrs Claus.
It started with just a length of tinsel, but now more than 20 years on, come Christmas time, almost every inch of Margaret’s bus is covered with festive decorations, lights and even a nativity scene!
Margaret also gives away about 1000 candy canes each year and nearly 30 kilos of lollies.
And she pays for the whole lot out of her own pocket.
It takes Margaret two whole days to decorate her bus and even longer to take it down!
Her incredible idea has sparked a bus decorating competition in
Sydney and she even sells a DVD full of happy snaps taken on board. Every cent raised from it goes straight to the Mater Hospital.
Margaret’s now a grandma of 11 and a great-grandma of one. I couldn’t be prouder of my girl – she is a true Christmas hero.