Santa made an early stop in Hawaii Thursday to meet with a special group of keiki.

More than a hundred children gathered at Pearlridge Center Thursday to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas using American Sign Language.

“They get to communicate with Santa Claus in a language they can access, so that’s the most amazing thing,” said Carole Duran, a speech language assessor with the Department of Education. “Santa’s deaf. He speaks whatever language the kids speak, and that’s a really great thing for the kids here.”

As a special treat, keiki enjoyed live entertainment by deaf performers, including students from Taiko Center of the Pacific, Hawaii School for the Deaf and Blind, and Honolulu Waldorf School.

The kids also got the ride the Pearlridge Express as the center’s special guests.

“It is an opportunity also for the kids to gather, because oftentimes we have deaf and hard of hearing kids, maybe there’s only one or two of them at any particular school, so they all come together, they see each other statewide, they see deaf adults performing, the deaf community comes out. This is a major event,” said ASL interpreter Jan Fried.

This is the 26th year Deaf Santa has visited children at Pearlridge Center.