Sadie checks our mail every day. She’s four. Excuse me, four and a half.
Once a month she gets her Chirp Magazine. Big day. She gets, reads, re-reads and covets the postcards from my parents when they travel. That’s about it.
But she charges to the mailbox every day, chattering about our letters.
Today, she saw her name before I did.
“MUMMY! A letter for me!”
“Terrific! Who do you think it is from?”
Her bright eyes flickered to the top left corner. “S…A…N…T… OH MY GOD IT’S A LETTER FROM SANTA!”
She tore it open. She beamed.
“Look, he really wrote to me. Just ME!”
She jumped up on my lap.
It really is a charming letter. Starting with “What a delight it was to receive your wonderful letter. It really made my day.” Sadie was literally bouncing on my lap we read it.
We got to the end and we read the handwritten P.S. together. “P.S. I hope the weather is clear for our Christmas Eve flight!”
As a direct response fundraiser, this inspired me. And I’m sharing with you the top 5 highlights for all of us, from the outside in.
- It has a handwritten name and address and a live stamp. Real, personal mail.
- It says “Hello Sadie” and “Your friend, Santa”. Not “Dear Friend” and “From Hospital Foundation”. See our previous post.
- Tell stories. Santa does. So should you.
- It is special. Real direct mail can be special and precious. As your voice mail notification flashes, your unread texts accumulate, who can even count the Facebeook notifications anymore and your inbox overflows, revel in the touches of handwriting and human contact. It is meaningful and powerful.
- Sadie poured her heart into her letter for Santa. And she feels like she can fly right now. When someone writes to you (or writes to you AND gives you money), write back. Santa’s timing is impeccable. Funny how that works.
And this one’s for you… From me to you, dear reader, this holiday season.
Believe in magic.
Great post Jen! Way too cute! Love Sadie’s big, bright, beautiful eyes!
The letters that the children receive back from Santa are really well done. It’s a great service that Canada Post volunteers provide.
Thanks Tara! I agree — amazing that Canada Post does this for our kids.
Love this! Just yesterday I received an email from a NFP I worked closely with for four years. It started out “Dear friend” (??!!) and ended with “your donation will help us” – period.
Needless to say, I decided not to donate to help them reach out to new (Dear) “friends”.
Thanks for sharing Talya. The sad thing about it is that you can just tell that no one planning the letter is REALLY thinking about the reader. They are thinking about themselves, and not about their most precious resource: YOU! For Christmas, I hope you find charities who show you they love you. Maybe even a bit too much!