She absolutely sleighed them.
An 8-year-old girl in Arizona felt so betrayed after learning the truth about Santa Claus that she wrote her parents an angry letter labeling them “dream crushers” and “backstabbers.” Her furious correspondence is currently blowing up on Reddit, although some skeptics wondered if, like Kris Kringle himself, it may have been too good to be true.
“While it was heartbreaking to see her pain, we couldn’t help but smile at the tenderness and sweetness in her writing,” the disillusioned girl’s dad Derek Rogers told Newsweek.
The Gilbert native said that he and his wife had always taken pains to keep the Santa myth alive for the sake of their daughter.
“Our daughter had an Elf on the Shelf who was a kind elf and a Christmas friend,” Rogers said. “She wrote letters to Santa, and sometimes he even wrote back.”
Their Christmas cover story came unraveled last week, however, when a boy at her school told her that neither Saint Nick nor the oft-agita-causing Elf on the Shelf were real.
“[He said] that the only people who still believe that are me and my family,” the devastated tyke demanded, per Rogers. “Mom, Dad … is it true? Is Santa real?”
That’s when they decided to spill the beans on the Yuletide myth. And while Rogers thought they did a good job clearing the air, he discovered that wasn’t the case after his daughter burst into tears and exclaimed, “You lied to me for eight years?!”
When they tried to console the distraught tot, she told them “I have to say some things that might not be nice, and I don’t want to say them out loud.” She then stomped off to their home office, and returned with the aforementioned note, which read:
“I may say… you lied to me! I will hate you. Also, I don’t know why this elf thing is in here. Maybe from Aspen before she lost her magic. You broke my heart. (She found an Elf on the Shelf accessories kit in the office.) You are a love breaker and a dream crusher. P.S. Never forgive a liar and a backstabber.”
Redditors were both amused and charmed over the letter which was shared in two parts by a friend of the family.
“Villain origin story right there,” said one, while another wrote, “I need someone to transcribe this.”
A third said, “Well… I applaud the kids ability to safely express their big negative emotions. It’s adorable. And I hope the kid grows up to be creative and artistic and maybe a little forgiving of their parents who crushed her dreams.”
“Please keep this to show them when they’re an adult,” suggested one fan, to which a poster claiming to be the girl’s parent replied, “I’m going to laminate it for her wedding.”
However, a few thought the letter was faked for internet clout with one skeptic pondering, “do eight year olds really say ‘idk?’ I always assume these were written by adults.”
Another dubbed the correspondence “unbelievably fake.”
The girl’s purported parent dismissed the haters, writing in the comments, “Always doubters, it’s the internet. Can’t blame ’em.”
Rogers said that while his daughter was initially “mad” at them for some time over the betrayal, she’s since returned to her “cheerful” self, and now sees the holiday season in a new light.
“She’s even excited to help wrap presents, put them under the tree, and carry on the spirit of Christmas,” he said. “She started moving the Elf on the Shelf herself and giggled when we discovered the new places it appeared around the house.”
