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Letter To Santa Claus Turns Up 72 Years Later And Gifts Arrive

By Anne Sewell
Published on: 21:02 PST, Dec 12, 2015

Around 72 years ago, a young boy and his mother sent a letter to Santa Claus up the chimney in the hope of receiving certain gifts. Now it has been found in that same chimney by a builder, who delivered not only the letter but also the requested gifts to its original sender.

Yesterday the Inquisitr told the tale of the UK’s oldest Christmas tree, which survived not only Hitler’s bombs but also an unusually strong storm. The old Christmas tree was passed down through the ranks of the same family and has been decorated each year for the last 95 years. The family even has the original Christmas decorations which they add each year and the tree inspires many Christmas memories.

Now we have a different Christmas tale to tell.

Lewis Shaw is a builder who was demolishing a fireplace in a home in Caversham, Reading in England recently. Shaw found the letter to Santa Claus in a pile of rubble while working on the fireplace in the home.

It turned out the letter to Santa Claus was penned around 72 years before and while Santa never received the missive, it turned up anyway, many years down the line.

The letter read: “Dear Father Christmas. Please can you send me a Rupert annual and a drum, a box of chalks, soldiers and Indians, slippers, silk tie, pencil box and any little toys you have to spare, Love David. xxx”

While many people would have simply discarded the letter to Santa, Shaw was touched by its contents and decided to try to find the original sender on Facebook. He has finally succeeded after an article about it was posted on Get Reading, telling the story of the letter to Santa Claus.

David Haylock, 78, read the article and came forward saying he remembers sending the letter to Santa when he was around six years old.

Shaw and Haylock arranged to meet at the 1930s semi-detached house which was previously Haylock’s home and Shaw took him on a nostalgic tour of the house before giving him the gifts he had asked for so many years ago.

Haylock told Get Reading, “It has been a very long time since I sent this list, but it has definitely been worth the wait, it’s amazing really.”

According to the Metro, Haylock went on to say it was war time when he sent the letter to Santa from the home where he lived with his parents from 1937 to 1966. He remembers bending down in front of the fireplace with his mother and putting the Christmas letter up the chimney, waiting for the draft to take it up.

Fast forward 72 years and Shaw, the finder of the lost letter to Santa, has even given Haylock the Christmas presents he asked for in his missive. However, Haylock says he is going to try and wait until Christmas to open them.

“I am quite excited to open them now but I will have to wait until December 25, if I can.”

Haylock recalled that his father made all his toys out of wood when he was young, so he had plenty to play with, even though he says he wasn’t spoiled.

He went on to say, “My father made most of my toys out of wood and I really like what he made me. I had forts, cranes and guns, we had guns in those days, we certainly weren’t pacifists.”

He did say he can’t be absolutely certain which year he sent the letter to Santa, but the family used the fireplace often until his parents sold the house back in the 1980s.

Meanwhile the kind builder said he never expected to find the sender of the letter and it was pleasant to have a happy ending to a good story.

“It was good to see what Christmas lists were like back then, when it was more about the meaning of Christmas rather than the presents you get.”

It all goes to show that you shouldn’t worry if you don’t get exactly what you asked for in your letter to Santa Claus this year. Maybe the letter has been delayed, but hopefully it won’t take another 72 years to arrive.

[Photo via Flickr by regan76/CC BY 2.0]

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