Despite rainy weather, Country Santa Buddy Cox and his team of volunteers delivered gifts for more than 3,200 children on Christmas Eve last week.

PICKENS — Nelle Cox knew she and her husband faced a challenge as volunteers delivered gifts this year for Country Santa.

The weather was rainy Dec. 23 as volunteers went to Country Santa’s headquarters in Pumpkintown and was worse on Christmas Eve as hundreds of volunteers showed up to pick up the gifts for delivery.

Many who normally volunteer for Country Santa were unable to this year due to a bad round of cold and flu symptoms that was apparently plaguing the Upstate.

“Even our daughter was sick,” Cox said.

Despite the poor conditions and the loss of volunteers, Country Santa delivered gifts for more than 3,200 children from more than 1,300 families, Cox said.

“We were worried, because typically by noon, everything is at least on its way to some child’s home,” she said. “But lunchtime came and we still had toys that needed to be delivered. We had to call some of the drivers who said they would be able to deliver more toys if we needed them.”

Despite still having drivers delivering at 8 p.m. that night, County Santa was able to make all of the deliveries.

“I’ve often said that what we do here is a Christmas miracle,” said Buddy Cox, Country Santa himself. “We get help from so many people with nothing but love in their hearts.”

“By the end of the day, we were exhausted,” Nelle said.

On Monday, Buddy was back at work at his engineering firm, catching up on projects put aside for the Christmas season.

“Every year he has to postpone a few jobs so he can devote December to Country Santa,” Nelle said. “It gets tougher every year, but people know Buddy and what really matters to him.”

Buddy said the huge demand this year cut into his reserves.

“We like to at least keep enough in the bank to get started next year,” Buddy said. “People are generous, so I don’t foresee us having trouble.”

Cox thanked the many volunteers for their service to the children of Pickens County.

“People like to give me all the credit, but the truth is Country Santa would be lost without these people,” Cox said.