Dressed in velvet red, a rosy face and a big smile, Santa Claus waved at his young audience as a helicopter pilot handed him his red sack of gifts

At 1 p.m. on a snowy Monday, a red helicopter appeared in the sky above Alberta’s Children’s Hospital.

With delight, the hospital’s patients — and some curious staff — pressed their noses and cellphones to the hospital windows as the helicopter landed outside — and in a flurry of snowflakes, ice and dust, out popped Santa Claus.

It’s the second year in a row that Santa has visited the hospital, courtesy of STARS air ambulance. Dressed in velvet red, with a rosy face and a big smile he waved at his young audience, as the helicopter pilot handed him his red sack of gifts.

“It was like landing on a feather bed,” Santa told reporters shortly aft

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