Today is your chance to be a part of the Guinness Book of World Records, make the Christmas of a Toronto child a little more merry and get a free ticket to see Irving Berlin's White Christmas! Warning, it's a bit of a zoo. Long lines. I didn't expect so many people to be in the Christmas spirit this early on a cold rainy day.

This ambitious publicity stunt is going on until 4PM today at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts (you might remember it as the Hummingbird Centre... or maybe the O'Keefe Centre... anyway, it's that one on Front Street with all the lights). With the help of Lowe's they have constructed the "World's Biggest Christmas Stocking" that is made entirely out of traditional stocking materials. They are hoping to beat the previous record of 64 feet long. Together with breaking the record, they are trying to fill that stocking with gifts. If you happen to be sitting beside a large, unwrapped but manufacturer-sealed toy for children up to 12 years-old that you were thinking about donating to the salvation army this year, well then, bring it down. For your donation you will receive a free ticket to the November 22nd performance of White Christmas (one ticket per person, first 1500 gifts only unfortunately), Sony coupons worth $250 and a souvenir snapshot instantly printed of the "special moment" of you standing beside the stocking with your donation.

Seriously, the bigger the gift the better. They don't have time for "stocking-stuffer-sized trinkets"! The Salvation Army hopes to help make the Christmases of over 12,000 children in Toronto a little more merry and bright through its holiday toy drives.

Winners, the Official Gift Giving Sponsor of Irving Berlin's White
Christmas, and Spin Master are each donating enough toys to fill one third of
the stocking. The rest will be filled with toys donated by the people of
Toronto.

WORLD RECORD DAY SCHEDULE
12 p.m. - Stocking event begins; Stocking will be raised 20 feet in the air and stretched out across the Sony Centre lobby in prepar ation for being stuffed with toys
12:30-3:30 p.m. - Stocking filled with toys
4 p.m. - Guinness adjudicator will decide on success of record attempt.

UPDATE (9 p.m.):
It's official, the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts broke the Guinness World Record for Largest Christmas Stocking today on, of all days, the Guinness Book of World Record's Day. Yes, it's an actual day.

The stocking's final length was measured at 27.46 metres (90 feet 1 inch) long and 11.3 metres (37 feet 1 inch) wide (heel to toe), shattering the old record established on Jan. 11, 2006 by shoppers and staff of the MetroCentre in Gateshead, UK which measured 19.25 metres (63 feet 2 inches) long and 8.23 metres (27 feet) wide (heel to toe).

The stocking was filled with toys to be donated to the Salvation Army.