by Charlotte from Plymouth asks Santa about ornament storage, learns about Cape Cod, and hears about the real history of the Pilgrims and Plymouth’s founding
Dear Santa, my name is Charlotte and I am nine years old. I live in Plymouth, Massachusetts, where my teacher says our town played a very important part in some of the earliest chapters of American history.
Dear Charlotte, your teacher is entirely right, and I have watched that particular history unfold for a very long time.
Santa, I have three questions.
My first question is, can I get Christmas ornament storage? Our box is falling apart and half our ornaments are just loose in a bag at this point.
A proper storage box would rescue those ornaments nicely, Charlotte, and a bag full of loose decorations sounds like it deserves a much tidier retirement plan.
My second question is about our coastline. My teacher says a curved piece of land nearby is called Cape Cod. Is that an important part of our area?
It is, Charlotte. Cape Cod curves out into the Atlantic Ocean, shaping the region’s coastline, history, and fishing traditions for centuries. Flying along that hook-shaped peninsula each Christmas Eve is a genuinely lovely, historic part of my New England route.
My third question is about the Pilgrims. My teacher says they arrived here on a ship a very long time ago and it was an extremely difficult journey. What is the real story?
The Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth in 1620 aboard the Mayflower, seeking a new life after a long, dangerous ocean voyage, and their first winter there was genuinely difficult, with many hardships along the way. Their story, and their eventual cooperation with the Wampanoag people already living there, is an important, complex part of American history worth learning carefully and honestly.
Merry Christmas, Santa.
Your friend,
Charlotte Adams
Plymouth, Massachusetts
P.S. Did you deliver presents back in 1620 too?
I did, Charlotte, though the presents looked considerably simpler back then.
