A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
The Swanson family is expecting an early Christmas present this year, exactly what their daughter asked for in her letter to Santa Claus in 2018. Pictured from left are Asher (10), Rene (7), Isaac (12), Oliver (4), Brandon, Micah (5), Bekah, and Alice (9).
Christmas is a magical time for children. Kids everywhere send lists and requests to the North Pole in hopes of Santa granting their wishes. To one Cloquet girl's surprise, her wish is being granted. We think Santa just needed an extra year or two to iron out the details.
Alice Swanson is 9 years old and in the third grade at Cloquet's Queen of Peace Catholic School. Alice has five brothers and no sisters.
So when it came to writing a 2018 letter to Santa, Alice asked for a baby sister.
"Dear Santa," Alice wrote as a first-grader in a letter published in the Pine Knot News. "I wont Love from Jesus and God I nead a sister. Love Alice!"
Mail can be lost or slow, and sending the paper to the North Pole on time is nearly impossible. The mail probably just arrived late, but the big man still held up his end of the deal.
Her letter has been received, apparently. Alice's parents, Brandon and Bekah Swanson, are expecting their seventh child and second daughter on Dec. 23.
Alice can't wait, especially when ruminating on her existence with two older and three younger brothers. "They're just so annoying," she said.
All those boys just get to be overwhelming, she said. Dress-up and tea parties with brothers just never seem to go as one hopes.
"Of course being the lone sister is ... well, lonely," said Queen of Peace principal David Douglas.
