1.The author is an ‘experienced’ Santa Claus—in fact, at the age of 17, he was a ‘teenage Santa’ as the Santa Claus for Centennial Village Mall in Edmonton. Years. Later, he served almost 20 years as the Santa Claus for Edmonton’s Downtown Christmas Light-Up and the Indoor Santa Claus Parade.
2. The book originated at the first Downtown Christmas Light-up within the first few minutes of the author’s role as Santa Claus. A little girl, Giselle, handed him a letter from the crowd. Later that night, he was at a dinner party and showed it to several people—one of whom who knew the youngster. The author offered to answer the letter and her single mother contacted him. At the time, he didn’t realize that the envelope’s return address was incomplete, but Giselle’s mother called him and he wrote the first of eight letters that became 7 Sleeps Until Christmas.
3. All the youngsters to whom the letters are written are special children who the author has known over the years (except for Daniel who wants enough toys to fill the living room to the top of the Christmas tree).
4. When he couldn’t find a publisher for 7 Sleeps Until Christmas, the author assembled the collection of letters as hand-written letters gathered them in 60 wooden boxes. He held a Christmas tree decorating party and gave most of them to friends with ‘Santa-age’ children. Later, he produced a coil-bound, calendar version that was illustrated by Edmonton illustrator and fine artist, Cindy Revell, who, for a subsequent book, was nominated for a Governor-General’s award for children’s book illustration. When the author approached the then-Chapters stores, they purchased the book for all their 60-some stores across Canada.
5. The electronic versions began with first for iPads. The new version for Apple and Android devices was created in 2023 by Victor Rubba, Chief Software Architect of MSP Corp.