Texas deli owner plays Santa to kids who leave letters at his store


Kids in San Antonio, Texas, don't need to send their letters to the North Pole in order to get a response from Santa.
Last year, Aleem Chaudhry bought a Christmas mailbox, and when he brought it home, his wife suggested he set it up at his deli, Gino's Stop-N-Buy. Immediately, kids started dropping off their letters to Santa. Chaudhry decided that every letter in the mailbox would receive a personalized response from Mr. Claus, and it's not just the kids who get excited by their mail. "What's better is when I look at the parents and the parents look so happy," Chaudhry told KENS5.
Kids can jot down their letters to Santa in the deli, using markers and paper that are set out. Chaudhry enjoys reading the messages, which mostly contain gift requests and questions about reindeer and elves. In all, 400 letters were left in the mailbox over the last year, meaning Santa better get busy before Dec. 25. Catherine Garcia
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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