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Air Mail: Balloons From Texas Land In Molino With Letters To Santa

Letters to Santa that were meant for the North Pole instead came falling from the sky in North Escambia Monday after a 550 mile balloon trip from Texas.

“I couldn’t believe they made it that far,” Yvette Gonzalez during a phone interview Tuesday afternoon  from Katy, TX. “I would have never thought it.”

A group of a neighborhood friends released the letters to Santa tied to a group of balloons about 4 p.m. Sunday in Katy. By early Monday morning, local Facebook users around Molino were abuzz as to exactly what they had seen floating around the local sky.   The letters and balloons were discovered later in the day along a fence row by a resident in the 6000 block of Chestnut Road in Molino.

Releasing balloons with letter to Santa, with a childlike hope that they make it all the way to the North Pole, is a tradition among friends in Columbia, Gonzalez explained. Her Katy neighborhood has participated in the “air mail” tradition for about the last 10 years.

“This was the first time anyone found the letters and called us,” she said. “I really can’t believe they went all the way to Florida. When we let them go, it was really windy and they went up really high really fast until we couldn’t see them anymore.”

The letters – some in English, some in Spanish -  ask for a wide variety of Christmas gifts from Jolly Old Saint Nick. Video games for the Xbox and Wii U are popular, including a request from Joseph who is looking for games “that are cool” and are “not girly”. There are also wishes for more traditional toys, including a football, Nerf guns and remote control car. And even a wish for a puppy.

Gabby chose to write her letter to God rather than Santa, thanking Him for her house, family, friends, soccer, education and health. And her Christmas wish to God? “For everyone around the world to be happy to know that on that day a Savior was born.”

As for the letters, they will be released this morning by a group of elves from Molino, tied to a fresh bundle of balloons, along with contact information and a link to this article. There’s hope that  they’ll make it along to their next destination, and we’ll be able to add to this story.

The letters were also carefully photographed and copies emailed by NorthEscambia.com to Santa’s special email address, just in case the balloons miss their mark again.

“It’s so special that the letters were found this year. It’s going to be a very special Christmas,” Gonzalez said.

For a photo gallery of the letters, click here.

Pictured top and bottom inset: Letters to Santa that floated on balloons from Katy, TX, to Molino. Pictured:  The balloons and letters under a Molino family’s Christmas tree. Pictured below: Among the letters to Santa was this letter instead written to God. NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Price, click to enlarge.