Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus!

Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. And her name is Judy. Judy works at the Gift Registry at the Macy's in Oak Brook.


Back story: Ava had a snow globe that was a keepsake from our trip to Macy's & The Walnut Room. My sis and I decided that each year, we'll get the girls the "annual special edition collection" item as a memory of our annual trip to the Walnut Room. Well, silly old me thought that Ava could play with it. After all, I had never ACTUALLY seen one break; I thought they were made of plastic, truthfully. Well, I found out the hard way:





I called there on Sunday, determined to find a replacement snow globe for Ava. This particular snow globe is a special edition collectible, only available at select Macy's stores during the 2010 Christmas season. They aren't available online.


When I first spoke with someone at this particular Macy's, I was told that they sold out of the snow globes around December 1st.


"OH NO!!! I HAVE TO GET THIS FOR HER!!!!!!!" (I now know the panic that parents go through when their children's "must-have-toy" is no longer available). The woman on the phone asked me to hold and transferred me to the Gift Registry Department to see if I might be able to order one online (Um, I'm computer savvy sister... already did that... FAIL!). At this point, I'm thinking all hope is lost and that I'll have to send Ken to the State Street store to see if there are any left.


Judy answered the phone. I told her my dilemma... keepsake, a memory of our first Walnut Room adventure, etc... Judy is sympathetic to my situation and offers to "look around" at other stores and to call me back. I give her my number and think to myself, "Judy ain't calling back".   About an hour later and multiple conversations between Judy and myself.... she called to tell me that she had found ONE!  She said, "It is here and it's got your name on it!".  I told her that she is my Christmas Angel.  Talk about going above and beyond... now that is what I call customer service!  And yes, I fully intend to write the location and inform the "big wigs" of what a fantastic employee they have on their hands.(Read the letter I wrote here)

I picked it up today.  Unfortunately Judy wasn't there so I could squeeze the living daylights out of her.  This woman is what Christmas is all about.  I paid it forward & gave the Salvation Army guy a $5 instead of the usual $1 or $2.  He was extra excited about it. Smiles everywhere today!  

For those of you that don't know about this book, it's SUPER cute.  I got chills the first few times I read it to Ava.  It's very sweet.  Here it is: Yes Virgina, there is a Santa Claus

And now that I'm aware of how popular these special edition items are, you can bet that next year, I'll be purchasing them in bulk... and making some serious coin on eBay.