Mr. Jingles, Santa's friendly donkey visited with all the children.
Mack officially rang in the holidays this evening with its 13th Annual Holiday Tree Lighting Celebration at the Headquarters Plant. Some 500 Vermont employees plus their families enjoyed the action-packed event that culminated with the lighting of a 46-foot tree by Jeff Somple, President, Northern Operations, immediately followed by a 15-minute fireworks display.
“Our tree-lighting has gone green this year,” said Somple, “not only because we still have no snow, unfortunately, but also because we have replaced the 3600 incandescent tree lights with 3600 LED lights that will use almost 99 percent less power than previously, a $1600 savings.” Somple went on to thank Mack employees for a great year, and to announce that each employee would be receiving a Christmas bonus with pay checks next week, along with a holiday ham.
Santa made a surprise visit!
During the two-hour celebration, children were surprised by a visit and gifts from Santa and Mrs. Claus, along with Prancer, one of his reindeer, and Mr. Jingles, his donkey. Guests could make their own ornaments in the crafts area and stay warm by the bonfire while waiting for the tree-lighting. A DJ provided sounds of the season while a holiday meal was enjoyed by all.
Let's see, what DO I want?
“I’d like to take this opportunity to wish all of our employees, their families, our suppliers and customers a very Merry Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year!” concluded Somple.
Prancer, Santa's reindeer, came along for the ride!
The children got to make their own ornaments.
Every little one went home with a new toy!
And a great meal was enjoyed by all!
Its great to see such an extravagant Christmas celebration at Mack! I was eagerly looking forward to it when I first heard about in my first week of employment earlier this year, but unfortunately I am in my home town with my family in India, which I guess in a way is a an equally special Christmas for me. There is always another Christmas and hopefully it will be bigger than this.
Merry Christmas to everyone at Mack!