Thank you Santa

A few days ago I showed you a letter which was sent to Santa by young Pheobe Pinkerton. I thought you might like to know what happened next. If you didn’t read her letter, scroll down to ‘ A letter to Santa’. What follows will then make more sense!

Thank you Santa

It was cold in Helmand last night. When Phoebe talked about her father being in Afghanistan, her friends often quipped ‘at least it’s hot there’. It’s not of course. In fact last night it dropped below freezing. Last time Phoebe spoke to her Dad on the phone he had jokingly said that he was missing his woolly hat! That was couple of days before her schools parents’ day when Phoebe was missing her father more than ever. She insisted that her mother leave an empty chair alongside her where her father should have sat, and on that chair she placed her dad’s woolly hat.
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Today was Christmas Day. Phoebe and her mum had never spent Christmas on their own before. Actually, they weren’t completely on their own because, my friend Rosey - her ‘kinda’ auntie - joined them for lunch. Phoebe called Rosey her kinda’ auntie because she didn’t like referring to her as ‘once removed’! Okay, Rosey was a little eccentric as regular visitors to my ramblings know, but although she’s come close to it on a couple of occasions, she’s not once been removed from anywhere! She was also very kind!

Phoebe hadn’t told her mother about the letter she wrote to Santa, she was too embarrassed! But she did tell Rosey because she knew that her kinda’ auntie had a nagging feeling that Santa was as real as the old man next door! In fact Rosey wrote about it last year on her blog and Phoebe had read it.

It was while they were talking about it that the phone rang. It was Phoebe’s dad. He’d just received his Christmas parcel from home. After a short chat with her mother, it was Phoebes turn to wish her dad a happy Christmas. He thanked her for her gifts: the photo of her receiving her award on parent’s day, and a woolly hat. He said that he had on his head right then! Phoebe was confused because she hadn’t sent him a hat. Then she broke into a huge grin as she realized what had happened.

‘Thank you Santa’ she whispered.