With a new holiday season every year, children around the world visit Santa; yet, for some, this can be a difficult experience, such as it has been for four-year-old Emily Andrews. Andrews, who is deaf, was finally able to communicate with Santa what she wants for Christmas this year due to a sign language trained elf at the attraction. 

In a clip, posted by 35-year-old mom Tanya Andrews, Emily asks Santa for a doll, pram, earrings, ring, and a blue dragon. Melanie Boyeson, the enthusiastic elf interpreter assisted with this, as she was an interpreter of the message for Father Christmas. After such a video gained popularity online, the elder Andrews expressed gratitude for the great support of “‘everyone becom[ing] part of Emily’s world,’” as stated in a report by Talker. She also opened up about prior experiences, referencing the fact that the family had visited four “grotto attractions,” all of which were advertised to have British Sign Language (BSL), but failed to follow up.

While part of the experience was just having the option of sign language available, the personality of Boyeson as the elf made all the difference. At first in the video, Emily was quite shy, but she opened up due to Malanie’s encouragement and excitement about communicating with the younger girl. In the same aforementioned article, Tanya mentioned that “‘After the experience, I was in tears, it was so magical to see Emily’s face light up.’” While Tanya has always been able to translate for Emily when the family visited Santa, it was important for her to be able to step back and watch her daughter, as well as for Emily herself to be immersed in the experience. 

With the family living in Goole, East Yorks, the local Airmyn Park Primary was notified of the family and took the initiative to find an interpreter for their grotto event, facilitated further by Emily’s school’s headteacher, Natalie Dodds, who appealed for such. Using Facebook, the teacher found “Holly the Elf” (Melanie Boyeson), who volunteered to visit the grotto in order to help out Emily. To add to the experience, Santa also practiced a couple basic phrases, especially greetings, in BSL to further support Emily. This emphasized not only the efforts of Emily’s parents, but also the fact that the school, being small, makes deep connections to the wider community. 

As a result of such a great experience, Tanya is now advocating for more inclusivity, hoping to have identical experiences for her elder son Hugo (6), who is able to hear, and Emily. As a parent knowing sign language, Tanya recognizes that it would be also important to have a more inclusive experience for deaf parents as well, so that they too can experience the joy of their children without having to help interpret.