When local actor Sunny Ng took on the role of Santa Claus for the first time for his son’s kindergarten class, he was overwhelmed by the response.
 
“My son was very excited. He couldn’t hold back and even whispered to his classmates, ‘That’s my Daddy!’ After the event, some children came over to thank me and said they were very happy.”
 
In the two years since his debut, he has upped the Santa ante, taking on the role again as ‘Santa Sunny’ to participate in the Hong Kong Santa Claus competition last month at his five-year-old son’s urging.
 
“I found my son and even other children are a bit competitive. He always wants to win. But he doesn’t understand or know how to cope with failure. So I wanted to use this experience to teach him something that he can’t easily understand,” Mr Ng said.
 
Like father, like son
Five-year-old Brighton Ng immersed himself in helping his father prepare for the competition. On the day of the contest, he dressed all in red as a little Santa Claus, cheering his father on and going on stage to join the game. Brighton was so proud when they announced Santa Sunny was the champion who would represent Hong Kong in the Santa Winter Games 2014 in Sweden.
 
Santa Sunny joined seven other Santas - from Australia, France, the Netherlands, Japan, China, Germany and Sweden - to participate in different outdoor stunts in seriously chilly conditions: The minimum temperature was minus 20 degrees Celsius.
 
“The challenges included speed-eating sweet Christmas porridge, and taking a wild reindeer ride – but on an electric ox instead of a real reindeer, and the Santa Triathlon. We had to pile Christmas gifts in a tower, then put them into a sleigh and push it to deliver the gifts without spilling any or overturning the sleigh,” Mr Ng said.
 
Despite his best efforts, Santa Sunny took second place in the games, behind Japan’s Santa. Mr Ng said he was a bit unhappy when he did not win the championship, but quickly cleared his mind of negative thoughts and asked his wife to join him in making a short video to tell their son in Hong Kong the “good news”.
 
Number two ‘victory’
“Ho! Ho! Ho! Santa Sunny has won the second place of the Santa Winter Games 2014! Ho! Ho! Ho!” In the video message, he emphasised he had won the second place, not that he had lost the championship. But his son was disappointed and immediately blurted out, “What can’t you get number one?”
 
On their return to Hong Kong, Mr Ng patiently explained the principles of winning and losing to his son Brighton.
 
“I told him I had tried my best. But if someone is better than me, then he deserves to get number one this time. You have to accept this and try to improve next time. But above all, it is important to have fun,” he said.
 
Still, Brighton could not accept the loss. One night before he went to bed, he asked his mother, “Why couldn’t Dad get number one?” Since then, his parents have spent time to explain the concept to him, and hope he will not take competition results too seriously in future.
 
Brighton, it seems, has finally learned the lesson. “To try my best is enough,” he said, adding that if you lose, “Just let it be.”
 
Best efforts
Mr Ng had spent two months preparing for his participation in the Santa Winter Games in Sweden. He ate oatmeal for breakfast each day to train for the race to finish a bowl of sweet Christmas porridge. He also exercised intensively to get physically fit to be able to endure the games’ outdoor challenges in freezing temperatures.
 
Being an actor himself, he watched movies related to Santa Claus, studying the story lines to determine how best to play the role of Santa. He also designed and sewed his own unique Santa costume.
 
“I want to be a Santa who looks smart, so everyone will look at me,” he said.
 
He chose not to add extra weight when he took on the role of Santa, but wore a thick cloak with two Santa hat pockets stitched on each side for carrying candies and small gifts for children. The highlight of his outfit is a cowboy Santa hat with a shining crown that lights up.
 
This Christmas, Santa Sunny will try his best to bring joy to everyone around him.
 
“No matter who I meet, I will treat him or her like a child. Whatever their age, everyone can still be young at heart.”