Have you lost any of the Santa letters? Not to worry! You can download replacements here. (Santa understands. He really does.)

Hello! These are my daughters, Alice and Lucy. And this is a photograph I took the year Lucy wrote me that a life-changing letter asking if I was Santa. 

In truth, it was kind of an "Oh, crud" moment. I'd left teeny tiny note from the tooth fairy on my computer screen, and Lucy saw it, and...well, this Mom isn't raising any fools.

My reply,, which was posted on the Cozi.com blog, made its way around the world. It was featured on the New York Times' parenting blog, and has been shared on Facebook and pinned on Pinterest by millions of people.

I never thought it would be a picture book, though.

Picture books are a pretty specific form. They have a story to them. This was ... a letter.

But after talking with my editor, Arthur A. Levine, I realized it could potentially be even better than the original. The book became a series of letters exchanged over a period of years, which is very much the way it happened in my real life.

One cool thing that reminds me of the Griffin and Sabine books I loved so much in college: the letters in Love, Santa are not only removable, they are also illustrated by the singular Lee White, whose art fills me with just the emotion I hope this book will convey.

Happy holidays to you and your family.

Martha Brockenbrough