Beth Bailey brought the idea to us just last week, and it felt like the kind of thing that happens when the right people are in the right room at the right time. She used to create these Letters from Santa years ago, handwritten keepsakes that families would frame and bring out every Christmas. Now she wanted to bring them back, and she wondered if the gallery might be the right place to do it.
Donna, Beth, and I sat down to talk it through, and the conversation quickly turned to something bigger than nostalgia. Yes, the letters are magical. Yes, they capture that fleeting window when children still believe in Santa's handwriting and the possibility that he knows their names. But we also kept coming back to the same thought: if we're going to do this during the holiday season, it should mean something beyond the magic. It should help.
Beth is a gifted calligrapher, and her Letters from Santa aren't the mass-produced kind you find in a gift shop. She created an original letter in her elegant calligraphy, then made quality reproductions so each one looks beautiful. When you order, Beth personally hand-scribes your child's name at the top, making it feel like Santa wrote it just for them. Parents tell us these letters become part of the family's Christmas traditions, framed and rediscovered year after year with the same sense of wonder they brought on that first morning. Beth will mail all the letters on December 5, giving them time to arrive before Christmas with that particular thrill that only an unexpected envelope can bring.
On Small Business Saturday, November 29, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Beth will be at Hamilton Williams Gallery to take orders in person. You'll be able to meet her, see her other creative work, and reserve a letter for the child or children in your life. If you can't make it that day, we'll continue taking orders at the gallery through December 3 by 5 p.m. Each letter is $15, and Beth recommends including all the children in a household on one letter, though you're welcome to order individual ones if you prefer.
Here's where the conversation with Donna and Beth turned into something we all felt good about. A portion of the proceeds from every Letter from Santa will go directly to Burke United Christian Ministries' Hunger Relief program. Right now, that program is working harder than ever. With the ongoing government shutdown and SNAP benefits suspended, local families are facing a level of food insecurity we haven't seen in years. BUCM has been there to meet the need, but the need keeps growing.
We can't fix all of it, and we're not pretending one fundraiser will. But we can do something. We can turn the joy of a child receiving a letter from Santa into a way to help put food on a neighbor's table. It felt right to Beth, it felt right to Donna, and it felt right to me. Sometimes the best traditions are the ones that give back.
So come by on Small Business Saturday. Meet Beth. Order a letter. And know that in doing something small and joyful for your own family, you're also helping ours.