A Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

I know you're a busy guy so it's okay if you don't write me back. I know that there are like billions of other kids all over the world that you're getting letters from. And I know that you supposedly know every one of us, but (no offense) I find that a little hard to believe. I mean, there are so many of us and only one of you. How do you find the time to know all of us? Anyway, no hard feelings if you forget about me sometimes. (I'll still leave you freshly baked cookies by the tree). I get it, but I wanted to write to you anyway because this year, I really could use a Christmas miracle.

You see, I've never written to you before because I figured there were always others who needed you more than I would. My life is pretty great for the most part. I have a family that loves me, a roof over my head, some pretty great friends, and most of the time I'm really happy. And, I guess that's still true, but sometimes I'm just flat out confused on how to help people.

So, I want to tell you a little bit of my backstory, just in case you forgot. Honest, it's okay if you did. I just want to remind you. My mother, Gail, married my father, Thomas, right out of high school pretty much. They were happy together. For a wedding present, my grandparents bought them a house. They both had good jobs for a while and then mom got pregnant with my big brother, Nicholas. Mom started staying home shortly after that. When Nick was two, they had my big sister, Taylor. When Taylor was three, they had me, Quinn and when I was five they had my baby brother, Caleb. That's all of us and life was really good for a long time, Santa, but earlier this year, my dad passed away. It was hard for all of us, but I think it was the worst for my mom.

So, Santa, you can probably imagine that everything has changed for us. He missed our birthdays and all the major holidays and all of our hearts kind of hurt really badly right now. But we're trying to all be strong, especially for Caleb. I mean, he's only four and this is supposed to be a really fun time for him. We're all just doing what we can and trying to step up a little more.

Nick and Taylor have been trying to handle more dinners so that my mom can relax. I try to help them, but they still don't let me do too much in the kitchen, but I don't think I'm too little anymore. I mean, I'm already nine. I think I can handle the stove by now, but whatever. All of us kids help out more with the chores and taking care of Caleb, but there's always so much to do and we're all still young kids. It's a lot to handle sometimes, but I'm not planning on asking for an easier life or anything. I have a much better request.

Before I get into that, though, I wanted to tell you about something that happened recently. It was pretty funny actually. A little concerning, but funny. We just got back home from getting the Christmas tree and buying some groceries. Our neighbors helped us lug the tree into the house and set it up in the corner. We had already dug out our ornaments, lights, and stockings yesterday, just to have them ready. I took Caleb into the living room to keep him entertained, while my mom said that she needed to rest and went back to her bedroom. Nick and Taylor got all of our groceries out of the car and set all the bags in the kitchen. They both wanted to do something before making dinner and asked me to put the groceries away. I sighed at first, but got up and walked to the kitchen. I wasn't worried about Caleb at all because he had plenty of toys and he was a cheerful boy. After a while of putting stuff away, suddenly Caleb started calling for help, "Quinn... help me! I'm stuck!"

I rushed to the living room as well as everyone else in the house and we all started cracking up then went to go help him. He had tried putting the Christmas lights on the tree. Since he was so short, it was only on the bottom half and he somehow got himself wrapped in lights with the tree before plugging it in. Lights were twinkling all around him, it was hard telling where everything began. But it was really good to hear everyone laughing again. I don't know if that was you, Santa, but I'm so grateful for that one moment. I just wanted to share it with you.

Anyway, back to business! The only thing I want for Christmas this year is that people all over the world will cherish and love each other. Truly, that's it. You don't always realize how lucky you are until you're missing that one thing... that one person. So, I want everyone to love each other as much as they can. I want everyone to enjoy every moment they have with their loved ones. If you can grant that, Santa, you created one happy nine-year-old girl. Thank you for listening to me.

Love,

Quinn Meyers

Note to Reader: This is a completely made-up story. Every last detail was created in my imagination, but the moral of the story still stands. There has been a lot of uncomfortable stuff that has occurred this year and it's been a little hard for all of us, but I think it's important for everyone to realize what we have, to cherish each other to the fullest, to be grateful. Try to seek out your happiness still. Everything will get better in due time. But, until then, be grateful and laugh often! We'll get through this together.

Skye Marin