A Foggy Noel, A Pacifica Christmas Story

The fog in Pacifica is so thick that Santa Claus can't find the town.

That's the general premise of "The Foggy Noel," an online holiday story set in Pacifica that tells the story of two resourceful children who come to Santa’s aid when their town becomes engulfed in its legendary fog, and Santa finds himself stalled over the Golden Gate Bridge between San Francisco and the Marin Headlands.

Told using classic storybook illustration, narration, gentle animation, and original music, "The Foggy Noel" is the creation of local artists and storytellers Adrienne Doherty and Adrian Smith, who "love telling stories that are set in our own community,” said Smith in a press release. “We like taking something that is very familiar and then turn it upside down and seek out its mysteries and eccentricities.”

Smith writes the scripts, narrates and edits the stories.

Doherty draws the characters and designs the backgrounds.

“We like the term gentle animation to describe what we do,” said Doherty, "as we like to keep the storybook feel of still images and then explore them by manipulating them digitally. Much in the way that a parent points things out to a child when reading."

The result is a fun, quirky holiday tale that, if you pay close enough attention, picks up on all of Pacificia's charms and eccentiricites.

“There are not many towns whose local businesses include steel riveting and fortune telling in equal number," stated Doherty in a press release.

This is the second time this team of storytellers have set a holiday tale in Pacifica. Their Halloween story, “The Haunted Bridge,” featured the old Ocean Shore Railroad that used to run between San Francisco and Santa Cruz.

The Christmas holiday tale ends with Santa finding his way, delivering a skateboard and iPod touch to the two children in the story.

It also ends with a polite request for donations so Smith and Doherty can produce more online stories and to also benefit KaBoom, a nonprofit with a mission to build playgrounds in walking distance of every child in America.

"The Foggy Noel" can also be viewed online at www.rainbootcove.com/holiday.