Preschool kids delighted by visit from Santa on a pony

Jan said she loved doing it for the kids and was shocked to be celebrating her 42nd year as Santa at the kindergarten.

“I think I might (retire) ... I’m getting to be 82,” she said.

Jan has a long and special history with Strathmerton Preschool, she helped to start it alongside other church members and all five of her kids went to the kindergarten.

It was Rusty the pony’s maiden voyage as Santa’s reindeer, directed by Merryn Byers and accompanied by two canine helpers, Toby, a fox terrier, and Sophie, a fox terrier cross Jack Russell.

Despite being 16 years old and blind in one eye, Rusty led the carriage confidently and delighted all the kids as he pulled up to the school gates.

Jan’s daughter Rachel McKay is next in line to be Santa when Jan eventually retires.

“I remember her doing it when I was in high school, like about Year 8, and it’s just something that she did every year for the kindergarten,” she said.

Rachel has been helping bring Santa and the pony to visit for the past few years and said the best part was the kids’ reactions.

“Some of them are scared, some of them are full-on excited ... and every year Santa has a sack with a bunch of presents in there with their names on them,” she said.

Rachel has stepped in as Santa a couple of times when her mother has been unwell, and said she loved it each time.

“It was fun because some of the kids when I was Santa were kids of the kids that I went to school with.”

Rachel said she enjoyed being involved every year, and her mum loved doing it for the community.