ST. NICK HITS THE BIG CITY
Thousands line the streets on a beautiful Sunday for annual parade
Old St. Nick waves to the crowd on Sunday during the 111th Santa Claus Parade in downtown Toronto. To see more photos from the parade, go to thestar.com and the Star Touch app.
Mr. and Ms. Kris Kringle actually live far from the North Pole, in a nondescript highrise apartment building in Scarborough. And they speak with heavy German accents.
Lotte and John Lindau are known to some of their neighbours as Mr. and Ms. Claus after 13 years of delivering gifts to underprivileged kids with the Toronto Star’s Santa Claus Fund.
They made a tradition of loading up their sleigh — a Ford hatchback — with presents at the Scarborough Baptist Church and bringing them to needy families.
The Lindaus often made their deliveries sporting bright red Santa hats.
Many of the people who answered when they came knocking were newcomers to Canada, Lotte recalled. “They always said thank you and when the children came to the door — ‘Mommy, can I open it right away?’ ”
The memory of one delivery three years ago stands out for Lotte. A woman wearing a hijab came to the door and was so moved at the sight of the parcels that she became tearyeyed, Lotte said.
She offered the volunteers handfuls of candy to show her appreciation, but the Lindaus — who still had many kids to check off their Christmas list — declined.
“I said, ‘We don’t get something in return. We really care about you.’ ”
Lotte and John empathized with the families on their delivery list because they remembered their own struggles after moving to Canada from Germany in the ’50s.
Lotte had grown up in the seaside town of Wilhelmshaven, in the northwest. When she was 23, with her country still reeling from the Second World War, she booked passage to Canada.
The Canadian government covered the cost of her voyage on condition that she repay it, little by little, every month. After a difficult 11-day cross- ing, she arrived in Niagara Falls in 1953. In her early years in Canada, she made a living doing housework and looking after a bedridden woman, she said. The only time she had off was in the evening, which she used to learn English in night school.
That’s where she met John. He eked out a living working in a factory and at odd jobs, such as moving furniture. He later studied to be a stationary engineer and landed better work in Toronto. They married and had twin girls.
“It was struggle, struggle for many years. But now we feel like Canada is our country,” Lotte said. If you have been touched by the Santa Claus Fund or have a story to tell, please email santaclausfund@thestar.ca.