Santa signs to deaf girl, gives her a Christmas to remember

It was a scene straight out of Miracle on 34th Street.

Sadie Adam, 6, has been deaf most of her life.

When her mother, Ronelle, took her to see Santa Claus at a local tree-lighting ceremony, Sadie was greeted with the surprise of a lifetime: Santa knew sign language.

Ronelle had taught Westminster, Massachusetts police chief Salvatore Albert, who has been playing Santa for the last 15 years, all the sign language he needed to know to communicate with her daughter during their visit.

"They had posted on the Police Department page that they were going to be doing the tree-lighting," Ronelle told the Sentinel & Enterprise. “I emailed them and asked if whoever was playing Santa would be interested in learning sign language so Sadie could talk with him, and (Albert) got back to me within minutes and said, ‘Absolutely.’”

“She sat with me for about an hour,” said Albert. “I practiced it for three days.”

All the hard work paid off. Sadie’s eyes lit up when Jolly Old St. Nick signed “Merry Christmas” to her.

“Santa knew my name. He knew how to sign it,” an ecstatic Sadie signed to a WCVB reporter. “I told him what I wanted – a kitchen and a baby.”

Ronal told ABC News that she started tearing up at her daughter’s reaction to the signing Santa.

“I am glad I was able to communicate with Sadie,” Albert told ABC News. “It was amazing to see the smile on her face and her eyes wide open with joy that Santa knew sign language. I am going to try to learn more for next year.”

“This is the first time anyone has had any special request of any kind,” he added. “I was very happy to be able to do it.”