There are thousands, if not millions, of different ways that people celebrate the holidays. Many of these can be quite extraordinary and unique. However, there's nothing quite like the tradition started by the Roadster Club of Japan around a decade ago.

The Tradition

Every year, not long before Christmas, the club dresses up as Santa and turn their cars into Santamobiles in order to do some charitable acts. They're car of choice? A Mazda Miata Roadster. This is because the entire club is devoted to the vehicle and once they came together, they decided to do some good with their shared love of the car.

The event, dubbed the "Roadster Santa Project," was started about ten years ago in Yokohama, but has begun to spread in the past few years; in 2015, the event took off in Tokio and has been growing there ever since too. This year also marked another first for the tradition; the first of what's looking to be many yearly events in Hiroshima. According to many reports, 26 Mazda Miata owners took part in the event.

That being said, they were joined by a number of volunteers and even employees from Mazda. On top of that, the designer behind the fourth generation Miata also took part. With all of that participation, it's no surprise that the event was a major success for the Roadster Club of Japan and everyone else involved. The entire club offered rides to local children in all of the cars that were turned into Santamobiles.

As some reports have suggested, the passenger rides may each have lasted up to 25 minutes, giving the children some much desired time with Santa and his reindeer. Add in the great decorations on the cars, and it made for an amazing experience in the Santamobile.

Furthermore, there were a number of other services throughout the entire day. The Mazda designer even offered on-the-spot sketches to a number of the children who gathered at the event. As a number of reports have said, a surprising amount of effort was put in even by employees who weren't a part of the Roadster Club of Japan.

According to a number of reports, the 26 Roadster Club of Japan members were joined by 49 volunteers. Each of these were dressed up as either Santa or his reindeer. There was also a noticeable turnout among Mazda executives and employees. For example, there was an employee from Mazda who drove a distance of about 500 miles from Hiroshima to Yokohama in order to participate in the events in both cities.

Spreading Cheer

The event also helped spread some much needed Christmas spirit around the streets of Hiroshima. Not only were the children give a great drive, but the sight of Santa, his reindeer and smiling children led to many residents of the city feeling the festivities. By the end of the journey, any children who may have been initially nervous came back smiling and full of joy. On top of that, they came back smiling about feeling the wind in their hair as the drove in the Santamobile.

Despite the time of year, the sun even managed to turn out and gave the event some much needed warmth and light throughout the entire event. Being able to have some much wanted sun meant that the festivities came across as much more positive. After all, nobody would've wanted to drive around with Santa Claus in his roofless Santamobile in the rain.

The Purpose

With all that being said, it wasn't all about making the children happy, but also about proving a number of charitable events and do good deeds throughout the city. For example, many of the volunteers and Mazda owners picked up litter in a number of areas across the town. Others arranged a number of dance performances, dressed as Santa and his reindeer. Overall, the events were aimed at giving local residents some much needed entertainment in the build up to Christmas.

And what could help you get into the Christmas spirit better than seeing Santa Claus and his reindeer performing a dance routine while local children got to drive around in his Santamobile? If that doesn't get you into the spirit of the holidays, then you might need to take a trip down to Whoville and see about growing your heart three sizes.

On top of that, local children in Yokohama were also given a tour of Mazda's R&D facility which is located in the heart of the city. Between that and all of the other events, the day was definitely something to remember and wouldn't be forgotten anytime soon. With the events now over with, many peoples thoughts might turn to what kind of events may take part next December. With the events just getting bigger and bigger, it only looks to improve with every passing year.