Although the sleigh is mounted on an old Ford pickup truck that stopped running two years ago, Pagdilao and his family continue the tradition of keeping it in parades not only in 'Ewa and 'Ewa Beach but around O'ahu. But it frustrates Pagdilao that the sleigh will have to be towed for a third consecutive year.

The Pagdilaos' sleigh has brought joy to parades in Kane'ohe, Kapolei, Makakilo, Mililani, Wahiawa, Hawai'i Kai, Wai'anae, Waimanalo, Pearl City, Kunia, Waikiki and Waipahu.

"It was my father's dying wish," Frank Pagdilao, John's brother and the eldest of five children, said of the commitment to keep the sleigh jingling along. "I remember him gathering us together and saying, 'If you guys get tired of doing it, just remember you're doing it for the children.'

"When I feel disappointed, I hear my dad's voice saying, 'Don't give up,' " Frank Pagdilao said.

Honorata "Helen" Pagdilao, the family matriarch, recalled that her husband never rode the sleigh until 1991, the year before his death.

"He saw the faces of the children (from the sleigh) and was very happy," she said.

"He believed Christmas is about giving. We're not rich and cannot buy gifts for everyone. But this is what we can give to people."

The Pagdilaos' sleigh will be in the 25th 'Ewa Beach Community Association Christmas Parade, which starts at 9 a.m. on Dec. 11, and also the Waipahu Christmas Parade the same day at 3 p.m. The following Saturday, the sleigh will be in parades at Kapolei, at 3 p.m., and Makakilo, at 6 p.m.

The Pagdilao children grew up in "Middle Village," watching 'Ewa Sugar Co.'s annual Christmas parade. The parade stopped when the plantation shut down and there was nothing from 1972 to 1982.

After Christmas 1982, Andres Pagdilao, an immigrant from the Philippines who was a mechanic for 'Ewa Plantation, decided it was time to bring the parade back to 'Ewa town. There was a parade for 'Ewa Beach but there was nothing for the old town.

The Pagdilao family were active participants in building homecoming floats while their children attended Campbell High School. Starting with a Dodge Dart that had been used for a homecoming float, they constructed a sleigh float. Frank Pagdilao drew reindeer on plywood and brother John cut them out.

"Our neighbors — the Azumas, Yamagishis, Mama Ishikawa — friends, family and the 'Ewa Recreation Association gave us money for candy," recalled Frank Pagdilao. They started at the old sugar mill and took the sleigh through town to Honouliuli with Helen Pagdilao's cousin, Joe Cuyno, playing Santa.

"We had to finish before dark because the sleigh had no lights," recalled Frank Pagdilao. "After the first parade, we came home and fed everybody stew and rice.

"When it started to get bigger, we ate stew, rice and chicken," he said with a laugh.

The first effort, however, was a disappointment to Andres Pagdilao because he didn't think the plywood reindeer looked good and they didn't move.

He decided to build full-body reindeer for the second parade and added springs for movement.

By the third parade, in 1985, the Dodge Dart needed to be replaced. Shad Kane of the Barbers Point Riding Club offered the Pagdilaos the hay wagon used for the club's annual Halloween Hay Ride, so the sleigh got bigger.

"We now had a Santa float towed by a tractor and three trolleys, one of which carried a jazz band," John Pagdilao said. "It started to feel like the old plantation parade. It's also the first year we started to go at nights."

The Pagdilaos were now part of the 'Ewa Beach community parade, which had expanded its route to Barbers Point and Iroquois Point.

Taking apart the float from the hay wagon every year was time-consuming so the family decided to build a permanent float mounted on a Ford pickup truck, donated by one of the brothers, Lester Pagdilao, in 1986.

The sleigh's engine is dead but the Christmas spirit of the Pagdilaos is stronger that ever.

Sometime before Christmas Eve, the Pagdilaos will bring the sleigh to their old 'Ewa neighborhood to toss candy to kids. "We went back to 'Ewa on our own in 2000 because they don't have a parade there," John Pagdilao said.

Michael Crozier, a former state senator, marvels at the commitment the Pagdilaos have to bringing Christmas cheer to their community.

Along the narrow back roads of 'Ewa, the Pagdilaos didn't only toss candy to waiting children, Crozier said. "They would stop the sleigh in front of houses where no one was out and call out people by name to give them candy," Crozier recalled. "You talk about a close-knit community. They went through the whole parade, came home and went back to some of the houses that didn't get candy to give them some."

Al Verdadero, 46, a lifelong 'Ewa resident, said of the Pagdilaos: "I give 'em credit for doing what they do. They are very special people."

The Pagdilaos say they have only one Christmas wish: a van or truck to power the sleigh so it doesn't have to be towed.

"We just need something heavy duty, a chassis and an engine that runs," said John Pagdilao, who spent most of this year searching. "And it needs to be an automatic. We couldn't do it 2004 but maybe 2005."