The holidays are a time for families to come together. For some families, that can be more difficult to achieve than for others. While many businesses and schools shut down for the holidays, some members of every community will have to report to work on Christmas no matter what. Typically that includes those in professions in which we see people behaving selflessly day in and day out, like police officers, firefighters, and EMTs.
One mother in Virginia found herself in this predicament. Stephanie Lynn's husband is a police officer whose work schedule required him to report to work on Christmas morning. They resolved to push their holiday celebration back so that the family could all be together, but there was one problem: How do you explain Santa coming on another day to the kids?
That's how Stephanie came up with the idea for a letter from Santa offering "alternate delivery dates." She shared the simple idea to Facebook, where families around the country found it to be a perfect solution.
Christmas is all about bringing families together to celebrate, but that's a little tricky for some.
There are families in a variety of circumstances, some of which mean they can't be together on Christmas Day.
Stephanie Lynn's is one such family. Stephanie's husband is a police officer scheduled to work on Christmas this year.
The family decided to postpone their Christmas celebration so that her husband won't miss out on Christmas with their kids.
There was just one detail to sort out: Stephanie had to come up with a reason why Santa would be coming to their house to deliver presents on a different day.
Stephanie came up with a letter from "Santa" that was the perfect solution for explaining her belated holiday celebrations.
In the letter, "Santa" lets kids in on a secret. He explains that he makes special stops on other days for kids whose families have first responders, military members, medical personnel, pilots, etc.
Stephanie posted her letter to Facebook, where people really loved the idea. To date, it's been shared over 60,000 times.
Stephanie never anticipated that her idea would go viral. She even got requests for custom letters based on different families' unique circumstances, which can be accessed via links in her Facebook post.
Word of the letter spread so much that NORAD, the official Santa tracker, even got in on it.
They posted to Facebook to explain why Santa sees some kids on other days, which is huge for the internet's premiere Santa tracker!
They also emphasized that those visits from Santa aren't any less special than the ones that happen on the 24th or 25th.
As fate would have it, Stephanie told FOX59 that after her post went viral, an officer without kids offered to switch shifts with her husband so that he can be with his family on Christmas. How generous!
While she won't be needing the letter after all, Stephanie definitely helped out a lot of families who will use it. And that's what the spirit of the holiday is all about!
