San Antonio Deli Owner Replies to Hundreds of Letters to Santa
The little red mailbox at Gino’s Stop-N-Buy was supposed to be a decoration, but when kids started dropping letters to Santa Claus in it, Aleem Chaudhry and his wife embraced the holiday spirit.
Aleem Chaudhry got into the Santa business by accident.
It all started when Chaudhry, the owner of Gino’s Stop-N-Buy in San Antonio, Texas, bought a little red Christmas mailbox on a whim about two years ago.
“When my wife saw it, she said ‘It’s so cute! Take it to the deli,” he recalled to Southern Living. “I put it up and within a week we got 10 letters. It just took off.”
What was supposed to be a decoration became a portal to the North Pole. And Chaudhry, to his credit, leaned into it. Not only did he put out crayons and paper for kids to write with, he also began replying to the letters—every single one.
Last year, Chaudhry’s mailbox received 400 letters to Santa. This year he’s already received close to 300. He estimates he’ll reach 1,000 letters by the end of the month.
He said that kids ask for all kinds of things like video games and puppies. Some just ask questions, like “how do reindeers fly?”
While he doesn’t send them gifts, Chaudhry and his wife do reply to each letter with personalized, authentic-looking letters written on Santa’s behalf.
Kids can write to Santa at Gino’s through Christmas Eve, seven days a week from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m.
