KAMLOOPS — Santa Claus receives millions of letters from children around the world each Christmas.
With so much mail heading for the North Pole, Santa needs a little extra help.
In Kamloops, 85-year-old Izzy McQueen pores over thousands of letters to Santa.
“This makes Christmas for me, it really does,” McQueen said. “I mean, to read these letters, oh my gosh they’re so cute, and some are a little bit iffy, but I don’t know, I enjoy doing it, and the girls that I’ve got helping me they just love it.”
Santa recruited McQueen for the job in 1985, and it quickly became a holiday tradition.
“I think I started out with maybe 250 to maybe 500 letters, and now it’s escalated, it’s up to about 3,500,” McQueen said.
McQueen has five helpers this year, and with their assistance she’s been able to respond to nearly 600 children so far.
Most are from local children, but every now and then McQueen will respond to a child an ocean away.
The letters to Santa include question, drawing, and of course Christmas wish lists filled with the most popular toys this year.
McQueen says Santa will do his best to get children what they want, but there are some presents he won’t be dropping off on Christmas Eve.
“(He) can’t bring babies, goldfish, or puppies. Santa can’t do that. Mom and dad have to do that.”
Reading the heartfelt holiday wishes keeps the magic of Christmas alive for McQueen, and she does her best to send a little Christmas magic right back, especially for those struggling with whether to keep believing in the big man in red.
“There was one boy who wrote and he said, ‘I’m sitting on the fence, whether I should, whether I shouldn’t.’ I said, ‘you know what, you have to believe in magic.’ And then one little kid said, ‘well, how do reindeer fly?’ I said, ‘you have to believe in magic.’”
