Texas Deli Owner Collects And Replies To Hundreds Of 'Letters To Santa'
SAN ANTONIO (CBSDFW.COM) - Each year millions of children write letters to Santa Claus and most of don't get a response.
Flash to Gino's Stop-N-Buy in Texas. The store looks like your average deli – but inside it's practically a secret portal to the North Pole. That's because owner Aleem Chaudhry is making sure kids get a personalized response from the man in red by reading and replying to hundreds of kids' Christmas letters.
It all started last year, when Chaudhry bought a mailbox as part of the Christmas setup in his store in San Antonio. But kids didn't treat it like a regular decoration – they started dropping their letters to Santa inside.
"Last year we had 60 letters by December 15th or so, we have more than that already," Chaudhry said.
Some of the letter-writers don't want presents. They simply want to ask Santa questions like, "How can reindeer fly?" and "Are you really coming down the chimney?"
In 2018 he collected a whopping 400 letters from kids all hoping to reach Old Saint Nick – and he responded to every single one. Chaudhry plans on doing the same thing this year.
Chaudhry put some crayons out so kids could write their Christmas lists and if parents go to the store without their kids they can fill out forms so the little ones get a letter from Santa.