Mailbox in Florence, Texas gives kids direct line to North Pole
FLORENCE, Texas - In the small town of Florence Texas, you’ll find a mailbox with direct service to Santa Claus in the North Pole. Tiesa Hollaway has gone above and beyond to make sure Santa receives letters from Central Texas children.
"When I found this mailbox, I found it at the end of the holiday season last year for probably 10 bucks," said Tiesa Hollaway.
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Hollaway is a self-proclaimed Santa helper after she put up her North Pole mailbox a few days following Thanksgiving.
"The day that I put the mailbox up, I took a picture of it and I said, ‘tis the season, do you and your family believe in Santa?’" said Hollaway.
She posted it on social media and encouraged people to have their kids write letters to Santa Claus and drop them off in her North Pole mailbox. She didn’t think people would actually do it until she started finding letters in it. "Today we have probably received those 80 letters," she said.
Hollaway says she has received letters from kids from all over Central Texas including Austin, Leander, Killeen, and Georgetown. "People have driven all over, you know, just from that one little post," she said.
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She says being Santa's Helper is a big job for one person, so she enlisted her son to help. "My son and I would put our hats on and put our Christmas masks on and I have reindeer leggings and we would go check the mailbox dressed up as the elves or Santa’s helpers," said Hollaway.
Hollaway says the kids ask Santa for all kinds of things.
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"It has brought me so much joy to read these letters from the kids that have asked for you know, spicy hot chips because their parents have taken them away, to one little girl going P.S. please don't bring daddy coal this year, to some kids just saying, Santa thank you so much for everything that you bring me," she said.
Parents have even written to Hollaway to thank her for a job well done. She says she did it to bring a little joy to a hard year. "This was a really cool way for us to give back. I really do hope that we will do it again next year," said Hollaway.