Mr. Christmas Elf spreads holiday cheer in Clarendon Hills

CLARENDON HILLS, Ill. (WLS) -- He's the Mr. Christmas of west suburban Clarendon Hills, spreading holiday cheer to dozens of houses and hundreds of children for the past two years.

They're in shrubs, on lawns, garlands, doors, even basketball hoops. You name it, the Clarendon Hills Christmas Elf is bringing candy canes, and more importantly, holiday cheer wherever he goes.

The "You've Been Elfed" program all started as a way to continue holiday traditions amid the pandemic - outside and distanced - and is now going strong in its second year.

"Oh they're very excited," Julia Margulies said of her children, ages 3 and 1. "I'm excited, too, it's the first time an elf ever came to my house."

In fact, Elf Vince Davis is distributing 2,000 candy canes to houses that signed up through the Clarendon Hills Park District where he has his day job as a recreation supervisor, when he's not helping Santa.

"I'll dress up as an elf, I'm like I'll go out and do it, why not? It seems like a great time," Davis said. "Regardless of the pandemic or not, I think it's gonna stick around because people love it. And I'm really excited to be able to do this. It's one of the best parts about my job."

And it's not just the houses where Elf Davis is bringing the cheer. It's also through hundreds of letters he writes on behalf of Santa through the Park District's "Letters to Santa" program.

"One day I did 50. I started at seven in the morning and stopped around seven at night," he said.

And the reactions are priceless as kids search for candy canes in their yard.

"Just seeing my kids happy and excited like that, that just brings me all the Christmas cheer. Seeing all the kids happy is just the best part of it," Margulies said.