A girl in Mexico attached her Christmas list to a balloon. A man across the border found it.

[left-of-center2012]

Last edited Sun Dec 23, 2018, 08:24 AM - Edit history (1)

The spot of red was what first caught Randy Heiss’s attention last Sunday as he hiked the remote expanse of land behind his ranch in Patagonia, Ariz., a town near the U.S.-Mexico border.

Draped against the sacaton grass was a balloon — or at least the tattered remnants of one. Heiss walked toward it with his dog, Feliz, thinking he should pick up the latex pieces and throw them away.

“My Spanish isn’t very good, but I could see it was a Christmas list,” he told The Washington Post in a phone interview Friday. He suspected that a child had tried to send Santa Claus a Christmas wish list by balloon, something he used to do himself when he was a kid

Heiss brought the note home to his wife, who is fluent in Spanish and helped him translate the list. They determined that Dayami, probably a girl, had asked for “Enchantimals,” clothes, art supplies and slime, among other things.

Full story at:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2018/12/21/girl-mexico-attached-her-christmas-list-balloon-man-across-border-found-it/?utm_term=.81eecc3d2423

non washington post link
https://tucson.com/news/state-and-regional/arizona-man-plays-santa-after-finding-nogales-girl-s-christmas/article_f27f7366-d265-5763-b483-121dbbfa159e.html

[dewsgirl]

1. Thank you for posting this. Made me cry. I love nice stories, which are in such a short supply at

The moment.

[brush]

2. Can't access the story thru WAPO's paywall but the photo of those adorable children...

Last edited Sat Dec 22, 2018, 12:36 PM - Edit history (1)

makes one wonder have many like them are locked up in the trump/nielsen pens?

[erronis]

16. Thank you for supplying "The Rest Of The Story"!

[SWBTATTReg]

28. Ditto!!! Thanks so much!! nt

[smirkymonkey]

19. What a beautiful, heartwarming story!

I am so happy for those two little girls! And also for Mr. Heiss and his wife!

[Polly Hennessey]

3. Makes you believe in the Christmas spirit,

just a little. The girls are beautiful and, at least, for a moment they know not all Americans are idiots.

[redstateblues]

4. What a wonderful story! Made me cry as well

[democratisphere]

5. What a beautiful story. Definitely choked me up! The Heisses are very special people!

Thanks for sharing left-of-center2012!

[50 Shades Of Blue]

6. Please pass the tissues....

[Botany]

7. Must be some dust or pollen in the air in my little house

“Their eyes were wide open with wonder,” Heiss said of the two sisters' reactions. “Like, ‘Oh, my gosh, this really did work!' "

Not wanting to spoil Santa Claus for the girls — who still believe, their parents said — Heiss and his wife told them they were “ayudantes de Santa,” or Santa’s helpers.


snip

“Quite healing for us,” he added.

Heiss, 60, has lived in southeastern Arizona for more than three decades and now splits his time between Patagonia and the city of Bisbee. Nine years ago, he and his wife lost their only child, a son. They have no grandchildren.

snip

“We now have friends for life,” Heiss said. “And, for a day, that border fence with its concertina wire melted away.”

*******

And you know those little girls are going to be loved and looked after forever by their new
best friends.

[llmart]

8. I so needed a feel good story right now.

Thank you for this post. I have so little Christmas spirit this year (maybe I'm on DU too much), but this reminds me that there truly are some nice people out there who care about the children. Every day I think about those little ones in cages and it breaks my heart.

Better not write anything else because I'm choking up again picturing the children and it's Christmas for Christ's sake! What's happened to the children in the cages?

[sinkingfeeling]

9. Beautiful story. That's the Arizona I remember and crossing the

border to shop in Nogales. Brought tears to my eyes.

I want that America again.

[Power 2 the People]

18. +1

[PatrickforO]

10. The thing that jumped out at me is these are just regular kids. And their letter to Santa

is a regular letter, like one would expect from any other kid. I want this, that, the other thing, and definitely slime (My grandkids live slime).

See, these spittle-spraying anti-immigration xenophobes who have made big bucks creating a mountain out of this molehill issue should be fact checked every time their open their isolationist mouths.

My point is that these little girls aren't part of some horrible invasion force. They are just little girls.

I would urge all of you, once Trump is gone and sanity restored, to press hard on those we elect for a tribunal to hold these Trump people accountable for crimes against humanity, because thousands of kids just like these little girls are living in cages down there.

Seriously, I turned 60 last birthday, and I never, ever thought, in a million years, that we would have concentration camps here in America. Never. These are crimes against humanity. It is so morally wrong on so many levels.

We've got to get rid of those camps and return to sanity, which will involve educating a third of our people about immigration, enforcing the laws and chasing the kluxers, white nationalists and nazis back under their rocks. And, with that, we need to come to terms with our nation's history of genocide and slavery.

[SWBTATTReg]

27. Good suggestions....crimes indeed against our neighbors and fellow human beings. nt

[B Stieg]

11. Specific acts of kindness are petty good!

We need more of them.

[yuiyoshida]

13. tweeting this on

Twitter,thanks!

[DesertRat]

14. Beautiful k&r

[calimary]

15. What a GREAT story!!!

Kinda renews one’s faith.

Little individual gestures like that - THAT’S what makes America great again. And keeps it great. And serves as a reminder that there’s always been greatness within us as Americans.

NICE story! REALLY nice!

Thanks for posting it here, left-of-center2012! I dare say we all needed it.

[DoctorJoJo]

17. Nothing More Inspirational Than an Act of Kindness!

[Liberty Belle]

20. What are the odds that the guy who found this used to send balloons to Santa, too?

I never heard of this -- is it a tradition for some or just a very strange coincidence?

So great that this man reached out to brighten Christmas for these children.

[forgotmylogin]

21. What a great story! It reminded me of this video I just saw.

(It starts at around 25:50 if the link doesn't jump to the right place.)

?t=25:50
Troy Baker and his wife were conflicted whether to even bother telling their young son about Santa because they didn't relish the thought of breaking the myth later. Nolan basically says the way you explain the truth about Santa Claus when children are ready is to take them in and make them a part of the myth. Basically, everybody who knows the truth is Santa and its everyone's job to continue the magic.

This man in the posted story above certainly embodies that!

(Troy and Nolan are two voice actors who work a lot in video games. If you play games, you've heard them. Troy is Booker DeWitt in Bioshock Infinite and Nolan North is Nathan Drake in Uncharted, among many others.)

[JohnnyRingo]

22. Build the wall!!

These Mexican kids are taking advantage of American largess.

Kidding aside, it's good to know most Americans still have heart. I teared up.

Thanx for posting.

[AllaN01Bear]

23. non washington post link

https://tucson.com/news/state-and-regional/arizona-man-plays-santa-after-finding-nogales-girl-s-christmas/article_f27f7366-d265-5763-b483-121dbbfa159e.html

[orangecrush]

24. ...

[Roland99]

25. I'm not crying. *You're* crying!

[iluvtennis]

26. What a heartwarming story. And I love these girls still believe in Santa Claus. Thanks for posting.

[Towlie]

29. In other news, Trump now wants a wall high enough to stop toy balloons.

("Slime"? What's up with that?)

[left-of-center2012]

30. "Slime"?

Slime Toys for Kids