Joy of Christmas

It is not how big a present is or how much it cost, but who it’s from and what it means to the recipient that matters.

Eight-year-old Angel Cortes reaffirmed that after he got a letter from an old friend, Santa Claus.

Angel sent a wish list to Santa on Dec. 17 after he was released from the hospital. He had been taken there after accidentally running into a plate-glass door.

He got a reply from Santa six days later.

“What a very special letter I have received from you,” Santa wrote. “As you must of sent your letter attached to a white balloon, the winds shifted and sent it eastward towards Texas where a (Bryan) Jones recovered it in a most remote area and then forwarded (it) to me.”

It was up in the air

Angel’s mother, Josefina Cortes, explained how Angel’s letter was sent.

“Our family gathers with other families for a Christmas party every year and our kids write letters to Santa,” Cortes said. After the letters are written, they are tied to the helium-filled balloons and released.

On the day of the party in Nogales, Sonora, Angel accidentally ran into a glass door breaking it and cutting his cheek.

“I don’t remember what it felt like but it hurt me a little,” he said.

After spending an hour in Los Robles Hospital in Nogales, Sonora and receiving 14 stitches on his cheek, Angel released his balloon.

Traveling more than 600 miles to Texas, it ended up in the hands of Jones, who at the time was quail hunting.

In a telephone interview, Jones said, “What impressed me the most is that I got the letter two days after it was sent.”

Jones said he was “in a most remote area and then I saw the balloon. It caught my eye because it was white and when I read it, I thought, ‘what a brilliant kid.’”

Jones said he then sent the letter to Santa.

Angel said he will write to Jones to thank him for giving the letter to Santa.

“I am happy he wrote back to me and I know now that Santa Claus really does exist,” he said.

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