Charl van der Merwe from Cape Town was enjoying some “dad time” with his three-and-a-half-year-old son‚ Matthew‚ over the Christmas break when they decided to send a letter to Santa.
Matthew dictated his letter “explaining why he should deserve a present this year‚ and what he'd hope it be”‚ his father posted on the Milnerton Neighbours Facebook page.
“We folded the letter‚ put it in an envelope‚ hustled a ‘curious George’ sticker as a stamp‚ addressed it to #1 North Pole‚ and put our return address on the back‚ not thinking too much about it.”
Charl van der Merwe
Matthew uses a ‘curious George’ sticker as a stamp on his letter to Santa. Photo: Charl van der Merwe
Matthew‚ in his letter‚ asked for a polar express train.
Lo and behold‚ when the family returned from holiday‚ they found a letter in their post box addressed to the toddler. Van Der Merwe told TMG Digital on Friday that they weren’t expecting a response and was happy to share their story. Father and son‚ he said‚ were equally excited when they saw someone had taken the time to write back.
The letter read: “The South African Post Office has received your letter addressed to Father Christmas. This note is just to tell you that we will make sure your letter reaches Santa before Christmas. We hope that you will write some more letters in the future”.
Charl van der Merwe
Matthew gets a response from the South African Post Office. Photo: Charl van der Merwe
In his post‚ the father said: “It really warms my heart that our post service had some beautiful person that went above and beyond her call of duty to respond to our mail. I wasn't expecting it‚ and it's really made the start to this year such a happy one for us all. Well done and thanks to Martie Gilchrist from SA Post.”
- TMG Digital
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