BOSTON – Just like a real-life movie, the story of Buddy the Elf meeting his biological father has come to life, just in time for the holidays.
Doug Henning wore a costume like the one actor Will Ferrell’s character wore in “Elf” while meeting his father face to face for the first time last week at Boston's Logan Airport. He even broke into the same awkward song from the 2003 movie — sample lyrics: “I’m here, with my dad. And we never met, and he wants me to sing him a song!”
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“When he came out of the airport, he probably thought I was a lunatic,” Henning, 43, of Eliot, Maine, told Boston.com. “It was a really good way to break the ice.”
His biological father didn't get the joke because he hadn't seen the movie, which is about a man raised at the North Pole who meets his dad for the first time. But that didn't stop him from giving his son a big hug.
Henning said he was raised by “amazing” adoptive parents but he was excited when cousins he met through ancestry.com helped to put him in touch with his biological father. Just like the movie, the father didn't know about his son.
The two met on Zoom and Henning's dad was able to fly to Boston for Thanksgiving.
Henning said he was inspired to dress as the character from “Elf” after watching the movie before the meetup. Henning said his father gained a son and became a grandfather. Henning is the first of the father’s children to become a parent.