WARNING: this piece is not safe to share with Santa believers.
There are so many parts of
the Santa Project that I wish I could share with you. The sounds of the
kids being excited as they sit and write their letters at the red desk. The grins as they put their letter in the
mailbox to go to the North Pole. The anticipation
of which gifts have arrived when the Amazon delivery comes.
Of course, there are parts
of this massive undertaking that I would NOT want to share with you… The hard decisions of what to choose from the
letters. The scheduling nightmare of how
we will get all of these wrapped. The exhaustion
that will most certainly hit at the end of it all (just let me get through to
that point please). And what may be the worst
part – our already too full and messy house getting inundated with toys and clothing
and shoes and boxes and tissue paper and ribbons and books and everything else
that is associated with the Santa Project.
So, I cannot share it all
with you. But I would like to share a
magical moment we had tonight.
There is a little letter
writer who comes every year. We don’t
know him from the neighborhood, not sure how he got started writing to Santa
here. But every year, without fail, this
boy comes. And also every year, without fail,
this boy asks for something odd. He has
an unusual name so we remember him and we are always excited to see what this
year’s request will be. This little
sweetie is now 10.
And this year he is
obsessed with capybaras.
I shared his letter the
other day on Facebook because I love it so much.
As you can see, he very
thoughtfully wrote a description of each capybara he wanted, plus drew a
picture (plus specified size – all small).
We were delighted with his new obsession of capybaras. I chose as his gifts: the capybara with the
flower, an adorable stocking hat with a capy on the front, and I forgot what
else but it was definitely capy related.
Then I found it online. A CAPYBARA ADVENT CALENDAR!
There could not be a more
perfect gift. I added that to the wish
list and a sweet friend granted that wish lickety split.
Fast forward a few days
and there is a knock on our front door.
That’s not uncommon around here, so I answered it. A woman asked if I had received her texts
about her child’s Christmas gifts. Ummmm
– nooooo…
Ahh, I realized that
perhaps it had not been ME she was texting, but our board member Ixi who has
been helping a lot by texting with the adults who speak Spanish. “Was the text in Spanish?” I asked. No, no, English.
Hmmm. She asked if your phone number xxx-xxx… Nooo, not my number.
Wait! New phone!
We now have a business phone and that is what I used to send out the
invitation to parents to bring their children!
YES, yes that is my number, but I have been using that phone to play
Christmas music at the Santa station and haven’t read the texts on it. Oops.
I checked and she had
texted and left a voice mail. And now
she was on our porch.
“Listen, ummm, my son. He is
OBSESSED with capybaras. Please, please,
do NOT get him all 3 of those capybaras he asked for!! He has too many capys! They are taking up his whole bed. Please get him the things I texted you
instead.”
Oh, I was disappointed. I knew nothing about capybara before this
request and was quite looking forward to giving him the animals.
“Umm, ok… Well, how about just one capy and we got him
a very cute little hat with a capy on it…” I said.
The mom looked frazzled.
“We will get what you
texted, too!” I told her.
“Ok, maybe not the
hat? Some other kid! Surely someone else asked for CAPYBARA!!” she
said, maybe not knowing that not all 10 year olds talk non-stop about capys.
“Ummm, no, no other capy
requests yet. But that’s ok! We will figure out his gift,
“ I reassured her. “BUT – he is getting a capybara ADVENT
CALENDAR. When it arrives, we will wrap
it. Can you please come for it when I text you?
It will be by December 1!”. The
mom agreed.
The advent calendar arrived.
I was psyched.
I created a whole back
story, which is something I often do with the Santa letters and I really
enjoy. Each child who participates gets
a letter from Santa, but this year, this year is special. This year this boy would get 2!
Here is what the letter
said:
"Dear xxx,
SURPRISE!
Bet you didn’t expect to
hear from me this early, did you?? But
your letter arrived at the North Pole and I got all excited to see that you
fell in love with capybaras this year!!!
Guess what? I fell in love with capys, too!!! Mrs. Claus and I took a much needed vacation
to Bolivia and we got to see capys.
Oh. My. Goodness.
They are so cute! Don’t you just
want to pick them up and snuggle them??
When we got back from
vacation I was doing a Powerpoint presentation to the elves, showing them all
of our photos from Bolivia and teaching them about the country. We do that after all of our vacations. It’s good for the elves to learn about places
other than the North Pole, and they do not get to travel as often as we do.
Anyway, one elf, Fredrick,
saw the photos of the capybaras and got obsessed… He talks about capys ALL. THE.
TIME. He talks about them at
breakfast. He talks about them at
lunch. He talks about them at
dinner. And I suspect he even DREAMS
ABOUT CAPYBARAS!
So, Fredrick’s friend,
Nicolette, decided to make a very special treat for him. She made him a CAPYBARA ADVENT CALENDAR! Shhh though, he has not seen it yet because
it is not December 1st. When
I read your letter I knew right away that I must ask Nicolette if she could
make another capy advent calendar – one for YOU!
Only – how could I get it
to you on time??? I can’t take the
sleigh out until at least December – it is still getting tuned up and polished
and everything to get ready… Plus, I am
super duper busy right now… I was
discussing the problem with Mrs. Claus and she had the answer (as she often
does). She said, “Santa, simply MAIL
Thiago the advent calendar!”.
Ahhhh that sweetheart of
mine!! She is a wise one!
So Thiago, I hope this
special early gift reaches you in time.
You can open one door of the advent calendar each day (but not MORE THAN
ONE, no cheating!!). The elves are still
busy making your other gifts so I will bring those closer to Christmas.
Talk more soon, fellow
capy lover!
Well, today is the last day of November. I wrapped the gift. I printed the letter. I texted the mom.
And we waited.
Finally the doorbell
rang. It was our capy friend with his
mom.
“Hey, this is WEIRD. This GIFT arrived for you. But it isn’t Christmas… We don’t understand what’s going on, but
look, it has a note that says OPEN NOW!”.
The trap had been set.
His eyes gleamed. He grinned.
And he took the package.
And said thanks. And started to walk away with it.
Well drat. We wouldn’t get to see the big reveal, but
that’s ok.
“Do you want to open it
NOW?” his mom said.
YES!! Thanks mamma!!
“Well, it DOES SAY “open
NOW”…” I added.
And with that he ripped
into the paper.
He saw a capy on it right
away and was excited, but I don’t think he knew what it was. Then he opened the envelope and pulled out
the note.
And that little boy stood
out there in the freezing cold and read aloud every line of that letter. And grinnnnned. He was happy.
His mom told him to thank
us and give us hugs (not sure why – WE didn’t give him the calendar, it just
oddly got delivered to us…). And off
they went.
I know for a fact that kid
is gonna dream about capybaras tonight. And
he is going to want to RIP door one open tomorrow morning right when he wakes
up!!!
24 days of teeny tiny capys. Ahhhh, holiday bliss.
Happy holidays, all!
P.S. – there are no capys on the wish lists (right now, but the lists change multiple times a day as letters come in), but if you would like to grant some wishes we would be very grateful. 200 children will join in the magic and right now we are half-way there. If you ever check the wish lists and they are empty, come back in a few hours. We still have 100 letters to come in so things will be added often. Thanks!
Anything ordered
from these wish lists ships directly to us:
Target Santa Project Wish List
I love this SO MUCH! Santa Susan, you are amazing!
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