WESTBOROUGH – Dashing through the snow, in a one-horse open sleigh.
For decades, Norman and Mary MacDonald welcomed the holidays with such a sleigh. While it didn’t dash, it would sit in their yard along Route 30 and be full of packages.
For Lennie Hutt, who lived across the street, the sleigh meant that the holidays had arrived.
Then around 1986, Hutt’s parents, Earl and Connie Hutt, bought the sleigh and used it for part of their holiday celebrations.
The sleigh, which was built in the late 1800s, endured a lot of New England winters, and it needed a lot of work.
Now, thanks to Lennie Hutt and friends, the sleigh has been restored to its holiday glory.
On Oct. 28, Santa and Mrs. Claus joined members of the Hutt family in surprising Earl and Connie Hutt. Santa knocked on the door, Connie Hutt answered, and soon both Hutts were admiring the sleigh sitting near their front door.
“I had no idea they’d be doing this,” said Earl Hutt, a retired pharmacist.
“They’ve done such a beautiful job,” said Connie Hutt, who’s lived at their West Main Street home since it was built in 1929.
According to Steve Hendrix, dressed as Santa, it took about a year to fully restore the sleigh.
“We’re three old guys trying to get things done,” said Hendrix.
He and Lennie Hutt credited Larry O’Neil and Don Pillsbury for their help.
The Hutts and the Clauses took turns taking pictures in and around the sleigh.
In addition to the sleigh, the Hutts were presented with bells made from parts of the sleigh.
Connie Hutt remembered how much Norman MacDonald enjoyed putting the sleigh out for the holidays.
“You kind of expected there’d be a sleigh on the lawn,” she said.
The sleigh is currently on a road trip – not to the North Pole, but to a photo studio in Lunenberg. Hendrix and his wife, Jean, will be using the sleigh for photo shoots through the holiday season.
