Southern Alberta senior pens Christmas story recounting true tale from his childhood in Finland

A southern Alberta senior is sharing a chart-topping Christmas story that takes readers back to his childhood growing up in Finland in the late 1940s.

The true story that Pincher Creek resident Esa Salonen, 81, recounts in his recently released children’s book, Santa’s Surprise: Christmas at Grandma’s, occurs in the winter of 1948, when post-Second World War Finland faced food shortages. That winter, his parents sent five-year-old Salonen, the second-born child of three, to live with his grandparents.

For Christmas that year, Salonen recalls going to a community hall across the street from his grandparents’ home, which he says was about 90 minutes by train from his parents’ home. Salonen remembers Santa coming on stage in front of a packed hall and calling people by name to get their gifts.

“Santa’s bag is getting lower, half empty, then it’s getting lower, about a quarter left, and now, my name hasn’t been called, so tears start to come. It’s getting lower, and I’m sobbing on my grandmother’s dress,” said Salonen, recalling her grandmother consoling him and telling him that Santa will call his name.

“Well, the last gift was taken out. Santa shakes his empty bag and I hadn’t gotten anything. Man, the tears were flowing, and then Santa lifts up the sleigh and he calls out my name. I jumped up in the air and ran onto the stage, and he handed me the sleigh.”

With his sled, Salonen spent the rest of the winter bringing firewood into the house and sliding down a small hill.

Salonen said his parents had his elder sister and younger brother to feed, and his mother knew he loved being at his grandparents’ home.

“It wasn’t hardship. I knew I was totally loved by my grandparents,” he said Friday.

The story has been in the family for decades, with Salonen telling it to his children when they were young and then to his grandchildren.

“After I retired, they noticed that I’m starting to forget a little bit, so they started saying, ‘write it down.’?”

His wife, Toni, said the local library offered a service to seniors where they could take videos of their stories, prompting her husband to start writing them down. He recorded roughly 10 to 12 stories.

“This was the most loved story from all of our family and friends for so many years,” Toni, 76, said of Santa’s Surprise.

Salonen said he wanted to share his story and explain to young children how much grandparents love their grandchildren.

“Sometimes we have to struggle,” said Salonen of the book’s message.

“Sometimes we have to wait and wait, and surprise happens at the end. You just have to persevere.”

The 27-page children’s book includes some illustrations generated by artificial intelligence and some created by a family friend. It also includes facts about Finland and puzzles.

The self-published Santa’s Surprise: Christmas at Grandma’s was accepted by Amazon and has reached the top 10 in the online retailer’s book categories of “Exploring Europe for Children” and “Books of Mazes for Children.”

“It was a wonderful New Year’s surprise for Esa,” said Toni. “It’s been an exciting couple of days for our family.”

Santa’s Surprise: Christmas at Grandma’s, released Dec. 16, sells for $9.95 on amazon.ca.