When my sister and I were little, our parents would have our Aunt Linda, mom’s sister, come and take care of us when they went out for dinner. She was more like an big sister than an aunt, being just ten years older.
My favorite memory of Linda was when she came to sit with us just prior to Christmas. I think I was around 6 at that time. We were having one of those snow storms where the snow was shimmery and crystalline, light and fluffy.
My sister and I were very excited about Christmas, and equally excited that Linda was visiting.
Long after dark, the snow was still falling and swirling. The lights were turned out and the house was lit by the lights from the Christmas tree. Linda had us looking out the window towards the streetlights. When the snow would twinkle, she said those were Santa’s elves, and they were hiding so we wouldn’t see them.
At one point, she got all excited. She said, being an adult, she could see there was an elf hiding behind one of the bushes right outside the front door. We rushed to the front hallway and Aunt Linda threw open the door. And, there, on a branch on the back of the bush was a knitted hat. I remember we were yelling and jumping around and excited to see what she’d found.
She brought in the cap and brushed off the snow. Inside the cap was a fabric label stitched to the back with the words “Santa’s Elf” on it! There it was, real proof that not only did Santa really exist, but his elves were looking in our windows!
We wanted to keep the cap, but she explained that she needed to return it to the elf so he wouldn’t be in trouble for losing it. She said she would put it in the mailbox and the mailman would get it back to the North Pole. Just like the letters we had written to Santa.
On that snowy winter’s night before Christmas, one of my fondest memories from my childhood was created.
Just before Christmas in 2007, I was corresponding with Aunt Linda by email. Somehow, we got to sharing stories, and I told her this one. She said that she remembered when that happened, and she couldn’t believe I would even remember it. She said that was one of her favorite memories, too, and was so happy that it was one of my mine.
It will be even more cherished to me now. Aunt Linda passed away a few nights later at the age of 60. She lost her battle with cancer, alone, in her home in Florida. I miss her and still think of her often.
Here are the details behind the Santa’s Elf Hat Project. In honor of Aunt Linda, I would like to carry on her memory with my most cherished memory: the magic and mystery of Christmas through a child’s eyes.
I’ve had custom-woven fabric labels made up in green, with gold metallic thread detail with a pine tree, and the words Santa’s Elf on one line, and North Pole below it.
If you’d like to make a hat for your own child, grandchild, niece, nephew, neighbor or even to donate or to surprise a little one or a loved one in the military, I’ll provide you with the label free of charge. What do you have to do to get a free label? Just send me a message and I’ll provide you with my mailing address so that you can send me a SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope). The day your SASE is received, I’ll send the label right back to you in the stamped envelope you provide.
Then, when the Holidays roll ’round, you’ll have your hat ready to surprise, amaze and mystify your little one by “planting” the hat where it will be found. And the mystery and surprise of Christmas will continue.
As for making the hat, it can be knitted, crocheted, woven, felted, quilted, sewn, whatever you’d like. It can be a simple hat, or an elaborate expression of your festive creativity.
(I’ve had a number of people asking about getting more than one label. For those interested, the first is free, any additional are $1 each to help defray the cost of having the custom labels made.)
I’d love to hear your story about how you’ve used the label. Let me know.