WFAA legend Dale Hanson is signing
off on Thursday for the final time.
That means Christmas.
It won't be the same anymore without
his thank God for kids video.
It has aired on the Sunday before Christmas,
every year since 1982,
we caught up with some of the
people featured in the classic video
to find out where they are now.
Get together with your family and.
Think about what's nice is happened.
We celebrate the birth of Jesus.
Have you ever thought there
wouldn't be no sign across? It's
been a Christmas tradition for 39 years,
but we never thought in 1982 that
the song with the Oak Ridge Boys
and the picture by photographer
Lee Gonzalez had editor David.
Handler would come to mean so much
to so many and we don't live in house
without Big bird Mickey Mouse. That
little girl playing with the Big
Bird is Anastasia, said Dave,
she's the mom of three now.
The oldest one has just started
driving and she watches that
video every year with them.
They think it's like like mom,
that's it seems kind of like old
fashioned and stuff because it's
so sweet the way I was like, yeah,
it hasn't changed is exactly the
way it was when it was filmed.
Thank God for kids
that young man is Carlton Smith.
Now he's a Dallas based fashion designer.
It was just something we all
look forward to for the longest.
Like every Christmas,
somewhere around Christmas time,
we always knew that it was coming
off back in 1982. LD Bell High School
made it run at the state high School
Football championship led by one of my
all time favorite coaches, Tim Edwards.
Dale to me is a guy that just loves kids.
His stories through the years have
just been sold wonderful, you know,
and emotional in so many times and you
know those families that he's covered.
He is very, very special.
This is one of my favorite pictures.
Cowboys quarterback Danny White
in his backyard with his kids.
That was 1982, but his life
is a little bit different now
I have 15 grandkids I'm holding out for my.
One son that might still have
another one that would give me 16
and would put me one ahead of Roger,
so that's all. That's all that
matters. The Roger he's
talking about is, of course,
the legendary Roger Staubach.
Here's another special moment.
A dad taking his son to meet
Santa for the first time.
That's Robin vending are 39 years ago.
It is always inspiring.
A lot of times bring tears.
All of our eyes and.
But I always look forward to it.
It's fun to watch.
I always tell my kids
your dad's TV star.
I get my face.
I'm not even five seconds
every year for the last
for almost 40 years.
None of
this would have ever happened without the
work. The incredible work of photographer
Lee Gonzalas and editor David Handler.
The reason it's sustainable
is because of the story bill
would always tell afterwards.
And I challenge anyone to not
have tears in their eyes after
many of the stories he's told,
it is the song by the Oak Ridge Boys that
made it all possible, but David's right?
It's the stories I've told after that
video plays that have met the most to me.
The stories of those kids I've talked
about who will be kids forever
and sleep with angels tonight.
They are the reason I have
said every year since 1982.
Thank God for kids.
And Dale is sharing his memories
with us this week as we countdown
to his retirement last night at 10,
we introduced you to the lady he
refers to as the lovely Mrs Hanson,
and that story is on our website right
now and it's really a good 138 years here.
WFAA means so many memories.
We gave Dale a whole section on our website.
So just go to wfaa.com/daleretires.
To see those stories.