A letter from Santa Claus
by Mrs. Claus
My husband Santa Claus loves to make people happy. Every year he just waits with his true, real bag of toys to give to children. You see, Santa Bill (as he is also known) had a toy museum, and after years had gone by there didn’t seem to be a place to have his museum; sadly, it was time to close . . .
One Christmas Season, Santa was all ready to do his most favorite thing in the world — go make his rounds and spread happiness and joy to everyone. However, Santa felt an unusual burning in his chest, so instead of doing what he waited all year to do, he and I headed to the hospital. He saw the Doctor and she said he had to be admitted. He said, “I can’t. I am doing Santa tomorrow at the children’s library.” The Doctor responded, “Mr. Lefferts, if you want to traumatize the children and have a coronary, and have Santa die right in front of them, go ahead!”
So Santa was admitted and scheduled for open heart surgery. The day before the surgery we put on our suits in the hospital and took pictures with the nurses so they could say that Santa was with them in their hospital at CMC. I brought the Santa bag full of toys, clothes, etc. and put the toys under the tree on the children’s floor. We gave gifts to the nurses for their children as well as themselves. We were making sure nothing came home with us.
We made lots of friends, and after the surgery (and, yes, Santa pulled through) they named his room “Santa’s Suite.”
Santa (my husband) is the only patient I know that got a card that read “It was a pleasure having you as a patient.”
Thank you,
Mrs. Claus
P.S. Santa Bill Lefferts is also a vet who was, and is, proud to serve his country and fellow man!
