December 2014
Schenectady, New York
Dear Santa,
This is Chloe, a Rescued Dog that Loves Reading.
I wanted to write to you to say thank you for making my wishes come true!
I was a Puppy Mill Mom that lived in a cage and had puppies that were sold away from me, but now I live with my person, Ms. Cullen, in Schenectady, New York.
You already know my address! (I was first rescued by the good folks at Homeward Bound and they took very good care of me, especially after my operation.)
We have been together for more than a year now and life is very good for me now!
I have gained some weight, which is a good thing; while my person, Ms. Cullen has lost some weight because we go for long walks together! I have a warm house and good food, sometimes Ms. Cullen shares her dinner with me. I have some toys, but I am still not real good at playing with them yet. I like to chew on the rawhide bones that come in all sizes. I can chew for hours!
Last year, Ms. Cullen recorded our first year together with a photographic slideshow presentation on her web pages at school. She is a librarian for the Schenectady City School District and has three libraries and almost 1200 students. I’m not sure what that number would look like in real life, but it seems pretty big. She sometimes gets their names mixed up.
My person, Ms. Cullen reads books to me that she will read to her students at school. She says I am a good listener and good practice for her to prepare for her classes. I just love to listen and look at the pages with the pictures. She turns the pages for me and does funny voices too. Sometimes she scares me, but it always works out well in the end. I think sometimes I like to be a little bit scared. Some kids like that too!
Today my person read the book, Thank you Santa by Margaret Wilde and illustrated by Kerry Argent. This cover image is from the school library catalog.
It is really a dozen letters between Samantha and Santa over a year.
They exchange a letter every month. That sounds good to me!
The kids at her school liked it too. They are studying letter writing this month and it seemed like a great idea that we exchange letters too.
So Santa Dear, while I started writing to thank you for bringing me and Ms. Cullen together and making my dreams come true, I would also like to ask you for some friends to exchange letters with in the months ahead this year.
Thank you Santa! Love, Chloe
PS: My person, Ms. Cullen did the writing for me, just like she turns the pages in the books we read. Paws are great for walking but it makes it very hard to hold books and pens. Just ask your reindeer about their hooves, they’ll know what we mean!
PPS: I almost forgot. Mr Mike at Woodlawn has been a big help to me this year. He tells Ms. Cullen “Chloe says: Mommy, Come Home!” when she stays too late at work. I hope you find something special for him too!
PPPS: Santa and Samantha use the PS = Post Script and PPS & PPPS too. It means Oops, I almost forgot so I added something after my signature.