Doug Henning of Eliot, Maine, grew up with an “amazing” set of adopted parents, he said, but he wanted to know more about his personal background. He turned to Ancestry.com a few years back, hoping to at least learn about his heritage. Then, an email changed the course of his life: A cousin helped him connect with one of his two biological sisters and then his biological dad, who didn’t know about his son. “So within a day we exchanged emails and phone numbers,” he said. The following day he was on the phone with his sister, and since March, the family has connected on Zoom.
After all parties involved had received the results of COVID-19 tests, Henning’s dad was able to fly into Boston for Thanksgiving.
Just days before the meet-up, Henning and his family watched the 2003 Will Ferrell movie “Elf,” and that’s when he had the idea that he should dress up as Buddy. In the movie, Buddy the Elf meets his biological father (James Caan), who doesn’t know about him, and sings a song to him when they see each other the first time. See the meetup below: