Three versions of 7 Sleeps Until Christmas have been distributed over the years. The 1993 “Book In A Box” was a limited edition of 60 copies that were gifted to friends. In 1998, the “Countdown Calendar” was self-published from Edmonton, Alberta and sold and marketed across Canada through the then-Chapters stores, as well as local Edmonton book stores – today, it’s available through the Art Gallery of Alberta gift shop. The “iPad App” has been available in the Apple Store since 2011.
The first two letters were written in 1989, and over the years 7 Sleeps Until Christmas became a collection of eight stories written by an authentic Santa Claus. The stories are replies Santa has written to children, and are intended to be read as bedtime stories. Each letter reflects part of the caring, sharing and giving aspects of Christmas – in a way that only someone who has been fortunate enough to act as Santa could write them.
The Origin of 7 Sleeps Until Christmas
The first sleigh bells that led to 7 Sleeps Until Christmas rang for Stuart Adams when he became a teenage Santa Claus. He was a 17-year-old high school student working at his father’s Orange Julius stand in an Edmonton, Alberta shopping mall. It was the beginning of the Christmas season, and the shopping mall had a problem with their Santa. A replacement was needed immediately, and Adams was enlisted as Centennial Village Mall’s Santa Claus for 1969.
When the season ended, he hung up the hat and the bells, until 1989, when the Downtown Business Association approached him to volunteer as Santa for Edmonton’s Downtown Christmas Light-Up and their Indoor Santa Claus Parade. His initial reaction was to decline – he still cherished his earlier experience as a teenager, and the fact that the Light-Up drew over 10,000 people didn’t appeal to him, either. However, when he was told that he’d be throwing the switch to light up Edmonton’s downtown Christmas decorations – and that it really worked – he started an almost 20-year stint as their Santa.
Ironically, throwing ‘the switch’ proved to be anti-climactic after encountering the parents and the children gathered to greet Santa. From among them, a little girl named Giselle began the 7 Sleeps collection. She took her letter to the Light-up and handed it to Santa from the crowd. Stuart/Santa decided to write a reply, and told her a story of how grateful he was to have received her letter and how it had helped he and his reindeer endure an especially difficult trip home to the North Pole. That letter was to become “Giselle”, and the experience prompted him to try writing another letter to the firstborn of a friend, and that letter became “Adrian”.
The rest of the letters took several more years to write. They were all written to real (and special) children (except for Daniel, who was a little greedy).