8-year-old writes touching letter to Santa requesting 'money for mum and dad' for Christmas

Christmas is almost here, and children are busy making their wish lists for Santa. While most kids ask for their favorite candy, toys and so on, one eight-year-old girl's letter to Santa has gone viral on social media for a heartbreaking reason. Twitter user Nicole Connell, from the UK, took to the platform to share a photo of her niece Emmie's letter to the big man in red. Rather than listing all the new toys, candies and presents she wants for the holiday, the young girl confided in Santa about how concerned she was for her family amid the ongoing cost of living crisis. British inflation reached its highest level in 41 years in October 2022, raising worries that it could peak around Christmas and prompt consumers to scale back their celebrations.

Emmie's letter, scribbled on the back of a "Harry Potter" themed piece of paper, begins with: "All I want for Christmas is some money for mummy and daddy. They struggle with bills and [their mortgage]. I even feel sad." Adding a smiling emoji drawing to her request, Emmie continued: "Please, please Santa. Can you make it work?"

The small girl, aware that she was making an odd request, added: "I know it's a lot though. I'm sorry!" She signed off with "Love, Emmie" and three kisses for Father Christmas. Emmie then added two sad emoji drawings at the bottom of her message to emphasize how seriously she took her letter. Emmie's mother discovered the touching message and sent a photo of it to her sister, Connell, who posted it on Twitter. 

Connell wrote: "My sister just found this letter to Santa, written by her eight-year-old daughter. It's made me cry a lot to think that someone so young is even thinking about this!" The heartbreaking letter brought many social media users to tears.

One person tweeted: "Tears and everything. How can they expect us to survive this is cruel." Another Twitter user wrote, "@RishiSunak and the @Conservatives need to sort this out - kids always see life in the most simple of ways AND tell it as it is - this kid is 8 years old... they shouldn't be having to worry about their parents' finances!"

A Savanta Comres study for the BBC in October 2022 discovered that people with a family income of less than £40,000 (approximately $49,000) were likely to plan significantly smaller celebrations for the holiday. Nine in 10 people surveyed admitted that they are trying to save money by delaying putting the heating on. Many revealed that they're changing their spending habits to survive inflation and that the constant worrying about the rising cost of living has been taking a toll on their mental health.