Many of us remember when we were children and had to wait in the long lines at the mall to take a picture with the jolly man of Christmas, Santa Claus himself. His spirit makes the holidays special, makes children happy and enlivens the festivities.

Now, the illusion of waiting for Santa has diminished and instead been replaced with stress over work, finals, or Christmas shopping. To ease the “grown up” lifestyle, and cheer faculty and students, HAMMERED, a student organization at Northeastern, decided to bring the big man to campus.

On Tuesday, Dec. 9, in front of the Snell Library from 12-2 p.m. students had the chance to greet Santa. HAMMERED, which focuses on showing students how to have a fun lifestyle without the use of drugs or alcohol.

Myke Doyle dressed up as the big man and accompanied by his elves, gave out cookies, candy canes, took free pictures and cranked up Christmas songs.

“This event has never been done on campus and it should be very fun. Students should take advantage of things like these, especially because its free” said Jessica Nadeau, media relations assistant for Northeastern. Who helped sponsor the event through the university.

Nadeau said the group came up with the idea a few weeks ago. They wanted to do something fun for Northeastern, as well as get recognition for their group. All the Santa pictures were taken with a digital camera, and they will be posted on HAMMERED’s Web site, www.hammered.org, so students can view and print the shots.

One student was especially excited about the event.

“I love Santa Claus because I like to pretend I am nine years old and remember all the holiday things. I think this event is great and good for stress relief and just for fun,” said Mollie Mackenzie, a freshman theater major.

Faculty, students, even school workers and children visited the booth. Lorie Windsor, an employee at Northeastern, was passing by with her toddler son and enjoyed the celebration

“This is great all around,” Windsor said.