Woman Has Received Christmas Cards from Strangers for 7 Years — Says She’s Excited to 'See These Kids Grow' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Emmaline Childs holding up the Christmas card.Photo:Courtesty of Emmaline Childs

Courtesty of Emmaline Childs

The first ChristmasEmmaline Childscelebrated with her family in their house in Minneapolis in 2018, she received a holiday card from an unknown family.

At first, the 40-year-old marketing communications manager didn’t think much of the card. She didn’t know the family, who lives in Iowa, and quickly realized they must have sent it to her address because they didn’t know the previous owners had moved. She assumed the family would eventually realize their mistake and update their address list.

But now, seven years later, Childs is still receiving the family’s holiday card.

“It wasn’t until the fourth or fifth year that I started looking forward to the card’s arrival,” Childs tells PEOPLE exclusively. “I wish I had the foresight to know how much the cards from this family would come to mean to me!”

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Emmaline Childs holding up the stranger’s Christmas card.Courtesty of Emmaline Childs

Throughout the years, Childs tells PEOPLE it’s been a fun experience receiving and reading the family’s holiday card. This year, in particular, she adds that it really hit her how special it is to have this little window into this family’s life.

“It’s funny — I know every one of their names except for the woman who sends the card because she writes it in the first person! To me, she’s ‘the mom,’ " she continues.

Since holiday cards are something many people relate to, and with fewer people sending them out each year, Childs thought others might find the story as special as she does. So, she decided to post about it onTikTok. To her surprise, the video went viral, amassing more than 167,000 views.

“The Internet is such a wild place — you never know what will resonate with people,” Childs says. “It was incredible to see how quickly the video took off.”

Childs says she’s never tried to get in touch with the family or send them a card of her own. While she loves reading holiday cards, it’s been almost a decade since she last sent one herself. She says life has been so busy that she’s prioritized other tasks during the holidays.

“I understand some people might wonder why I didn’t just return the card to the sender so it could reach the intended family,” she says. “My hope is that the sender and recipient families are connected in other ways — through social media or real-life updates — and that this tradition has continued to bring happiness to everyone involved.”

Now that it’s become such a fun tradition, Childs adds how she’d be disappointed if the cards stopped coming.

“I want to see these kids continue to grow — get their driver’s licenses, maybe go to college or land their dream careers,” she says. “At this point, I feel like I’m in the middle of their story and want to hear how it ends!”

“I hope it reminds people that these small, thoughtful gestures matter,” she adds. “Something like this could be seen as an inconvenience. One where the sender may apologize in the Midwest way – ‘I’m so sorry! I didn’t realize that I hadn’t updated their address!’ But in reality, I love getting the card each year.”

source: people.com