To My Friends In Essex...

There's no "R" in "Melissa."

Anybody can speak with a cockney accent. Not everybody can spell with one.

Operation Santa Claus: The Gifts

Yesterday I posted my letters from 2007's Operation Santa Claus. These are the gifts they received.

The girl who asked for a baby doll got this.



She also got a Santa coloring book and crayons which I forgot to photograph.

The 4 and 5 year old boys

each received a talking Power Ranger that morphs into a plane.

Each also got a Polar Fleece hooded sweatshirt.

Each boy had a two year old sister. They both received this.

The talking Dora was a no-brainer. As soon as I saw I had little girls under the age of 5 on my list I checked off "Dora, Dora, Dora..." -Dora is like crack to little girls in the USA. But what's the deal with there being almost NO Dora products for kids under 3 years old?! Most of what I saw labeled for "3 years old and up" would probably be FINE for a 2 year old, but I wasn't about to take that chance with a stranger's kids. This was the only Dora toy I could find that said it was ok for 2 years old and up! Luckily it was a pretty cool one.

In addition to Dora, both 2 year old girls also got this.

The 2 year old girls' clothes were difficult because I wanted to get stuff that a) wasn't ugly, and b) was stretchy and soft, not stiff. Particularly the pants. Plus they had to be the right size and price!

The little girl who believes in Santa got
a Disney Princesses hat and gloves, and a very soft fluffy pink "boa type" scarf.

And another talking Dora :)




The two sisters who like Barbies got a Barbie each:

And since they like to play house, I bought each each of them some Barbie furniture. One of the girls got the couch and table set, which had about 10 little accessories that you can't see well in the picture.

The other girl got the bathtub set (which also has about 10 accessories). At first I thought the bathtub looked boring, but then I remembered how much kids like playing with water. -And let's not forget the flat screen TV to the right of the tub that every bathroom has!

Since the letter implied that the girls liked playing together, I figured they'd share these so it's kind of like both kids got both.

So that's it. Each child had 2 gifts to open, except for the one with the hat, gloves, scarf, and Dora. She had 3 boxes. Each had 6 mini candy canes taped all over the outside of their boxes and two sheets of stickers. Each had a gift tag on their box that was addressed to them and said the gift was from Santa.

As I said in my original post back in December, there were other letters from people with greater needs, but I was specifically looking for people requesting toys. There were many other letters requesting clothes, or items for larger families that I wouldn't have been able to afford. I chose the ones I knew I'd be able to do.

And boy am I glad the post office had the letters sorted by boroughs! (A borough in NYC is like a town. We have 5 boroughts in New York City: Brooklyn, Bronx, Manhattan, Staten Island, and Queens.) When they asked if I had a borough preference I mentioned my own as an afterthought. I'd planned to mail everything so it really wouldn't have mattered, but by the end of the day, when I realized there really wouldn't be time to mail them all, having letters from my borough is what made it possible for me to get everything delivered in time.

Operation Santa Claus 2007
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | A little more here | The Last Delivery
The Letters | The Gifts

Operation Santa Claus: The Letters

A few people asked if I could post my letters from Operation Santa Claus. These are the ones I answered. (Did I ever mention that I'd only planned to answer 1 to 3 letters? Yeah... that didn't happen!)

(Back of letter)









Text from the letters above:

Dear Santa,

Hello

how are you I hope you are fine. My name is [name omitted] I am good at school in [name of school omitted] and I listen to my teacher. I konw my mommy works hard to give us food.

I wish I could have a baby doll.

Thank you Santa.

Dear Santa Claus,

I hope this letter finds you well. I am aware you must be very busy as I am sure that this year in particular there are many children writing to you with requests for gifts.

I am sorry to say that I am one such woman writing on behalf of my two children. I have written to you for the previous four years. Perhaps given that English is my second language and you are probably not fluent in spanish. However I am the mother of a very good son, [name omitted] who is four years old and a not-always-so-naughty 2 year old daughter named [name omitted] who would greatly appreciate any gifts you are able to afford them. Mommy is not always able to grant Christmas.

[Girl's name] is a size 3T in clothing and a size 7 in shoes. As for [boy's name] he is a size 5 in clothing and his shoes are a size 11.

On behalf of my family I would greatly appreciate any assistance. Thank you!

All the best and Happy Holidays.

Dear Santa Claus,

My name is [name omitted]. I am a single mother. I have two children my son [name omitted] he is 5 year and my daughter [name omited] he is 2 year. I don't have money right now I owe always give thanks to good for having people like you that is willing to help mother like me. I wing you coul make this Christmas enjoyable for my children you to help me with clothe, toys, shoes please.

I want this Christmas to be special for my children they have had a Christmas with toys and gifts thanks and Merry Christmas for you and you family.
[Address omitted]

Sincerely,
[Name omitted]

[Back of letter lists clothing sizes for both kids in pants, shirts, coats, and shoes]

November 20, 2007

Dear Santa,

Please make my daughter [name omitted] her dream come true. She knows that you are somewhere there and keep talking about you all day, she is 4 years old, Hispanic and very enthusiastic about Christmas day, she is a good girl and thank God very healthy.

Please send her anything you want to the following address:
[address omitted]

Thank you very much and have a good Christmas

Dear Santa,

I am a mother of two little girls name [name omitted] age 8 and [name omitted] age 6; I am having financial difficulties at the moment and do not have enough money to give my daughters the Christmas they deserved. Their father has just been diagnosed with cancer for a second time in a year. I am hoping you can help with any little thing for them so they can see something on Christmas morning. [Name omitted] is a size 10 slim in pants and shirts and [name omitted] a size 7 in pants and shirts, they both like Barbie dolls and love to do arts and crafts they love playing house, at this time anything will suffice for them. Thank you and have a healthy and happy Merry Christmas and a Happy New year.

Thank you again,
[name and address omitted]

Tomorrow I'll post photos of their gifts.

Operation Santa Claus 2007
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | A little more here | The Last Delivery
The Letters | The Gifts

Yesterday's Letter

There were enough questions about yesterday's letter that I thought I'd answer them in a post.

When it came time to fulfill my math/sciences credits in college, I didn't want to take yet another chemistry/physics/bio/math class. I wanted to try something new, something I knew nothing about. So I decided to take computer programming to fulfill those requirements.

Since "Computer Sciences" wasn't my major, and I didn't know anybody in any of my computer classes, when the note was passed to me during class, I asked who I was supposed to pass it to. The person who'd handed it to me pointed at me. I shook my head and tried to mime "No. Who do you want me to pass it to? Where is it supposed to end up?" and again, she pointed to me. I knew that couldn't be right so I looked back through the rows of students to see who had originally sent the note. I was certain I'd find someone frantically waving and pointing to their best friend sitting NEXT to me, or maybe a row or two over, but every person in the "note passing chain" pointed to me. So I read the note. Then I slowly turned around again and caught the eye of the person who had sent it -the one smiling happily and waving at me from the back of the room.

I agreed to tutor her but we only met once or twice. What she really wanted was for me to write the programs for her without any explanation. She asked me to write out the answers to the homework assignments in full, and said that she'd look it all over once she was home and compare it to her notes from class. I told her we could discuss the homework assignments and her notes during our tutoring sessions. She said it would take too long. I told her it wouldn't. She told me she forgot her notes. I told her we could make new ones, and that mine would be easier for her to understand. She said she didn't have a pen or paper. I told her I did. She said she was late for an appointment.

Needless to say, things didn't work out.

I don't know if she killed herself or not, but I never heard from her parents so... ;)

No Pressure...

Passed to me during class, from someone I didn't even know!

Hi, I figure that you're the best student in the class. I'm barely scraping thru. I was wondering if I paid you $5 hr. to help me do these programs if you'd be into it. I've been to the tutors & they want to wring my neck cause I just don't get it. If you say no I'll kill myself but don't feel bad my parents won't blame you.

From My Brother

I have no memory of this.

Kanduki: Second Letter

What a pleasant surprise! when I saw your letter! All right! I must answer you now.

You know that I am seveenteen years. In Zaire each family has eight or ten children. My family has teen children too. I am the 5th child and the only one boy. I am among student's children of my family. The for first girls are already teachers. My father and mother are cultivators!

Zaire is a "first rate" and big country. There are many animal, beautifull bird, many big mountain as is "Rwenzori", and a good river.

Oh, by the way, you asked me to send you some pictures. I am sorry becuase I haven't been fast to find it as much as I have sent this letter. Don't worry my friend so patience!

Now, you and me, we are looking forward to corresponded with each other. We are getting older and older. Perhaps someone among us will go to visit another in America or in Afrique. Can you think what will happenning?...

In Zaire, after Christmas, change of money have happened. Because of every thing became dear. But food is cheap. I play only football. Do you like music, cinema, theatre, reading (of books), as much as me? Are you a boy or girl? Will I see you in the future? Perhaps on a picture. Is the meat of cat best to eat? Here each person has goats or chickens at home because meat of it are good to eat.

At this end, you will may you tell your family that my family greet him a lot?

Dear Melissa, I'll be waiting too.

Voice of your affectionate
friend Kanduki

As a teenager I particularly liked "Is the meat of cat best to eat?" I wasn't sure how I was going to tactfully write him back and explain that the cats and dogs I'd described in my first letter were pets that we, as Americans, spent hundreds of dollars on every year and treated like members of the family, even though they served no useful purpose whatsoever. We just "liked them." I also liked that despite knowing my name was "Melissa," he had no idea if I was a boy or a girl.

I was really looking forward to corresponding with Kanduki. Our lives were so different. I felt like I was writing someone from the past. After I replied to this letter, I started thinking about what photos I wanted to send him; Pictures of things he might not have seen before. But I also didn't want seem like I was bragging, and I certainly didn't want to inadvertently make him feel bad. I kept trying to see my world through his eyes. What was ordinary to me that would seem extraordinary to someone "from the past."

Growing up, I was always aware of how much I had in my life that other people didn't. I often felt like Cinderella at a ball and would look around and think "whose life is this?" I think this was the first time, though, that I took a good look at grocery stores, and really noticed their obscene amount of abundance and luxury. I was suddenly in awe of them. If Kanduki could have seen those rows and rows of never ending fresh produce and food, I was certain he'd keel right over. I decided that was something that would amaze him. I wanted to take a picture of the produce section of a grocery store. But I wanted to take a picture from a smaller store so it wouldn't look like I was bragging. The other "amazing" thing I wanted to photograph and tell him about? -Traffic lights :)

Unfortunately, I never got to send him those photos. This was the last letter I received from Kanduki. I never heard back from him after my reply. As I said in yesterday's post, due to the distance of his village from the nearest mailbox, there was more than a 2 month lag time between our letters, so it took me a while to realize his next letter wasn't coming. I don't know if he chose to stop writing, or if his letter got lost, or if my letter to him got lost -or if, possibly, he just graduated! I didn't think to write him another letter to check. Partially because I wasn't sure if maybe I'd said something wrong. I was trying to be so careful, but I couldn't be certain. So, I just kept waiting for his letter and then figured, eventually, that maybe he'd lost interest.

I've thought about him a lot over the years and wondered about him. Whether he lost interest in writing or whether one of our letters just got lost and he was still waiting for a letter from me. Whether I'd said something that made him uncomfortable. What kinds of changes his village went through over the years. Was he still living there, or did he move elsewhere. What kind of adult he grew up to be. Was he a farmer like his parents, or did he have another kind of job? Was he a good person, or did he grow up to be a scary person? For all I know, he could be a drunken serial killer now. I hope he grew up to be a good person, but I don't know. I love these two letters but I have no idea what the real person behind them was like, or how he turned out. And I realize, as I've been typing this, that I always assumed he did grow up. It never occurred to me, until just now, that it's possible he never did.