Family finds, responds to girl's letter to Santa 700 miles away

A ranch family in Laytonville, California has found a letter to Santa that was sent by a girl nearly 700 miles away.

Helen Cardenas, 5, requested a doll, a tea set, shoes and trousers. Her letter, written in Spanish, was released into the air with two pink balloons attached to it.

It was sent from Auburn, Seattle on December 2, reports KOMO-TV.

After Helen's letter was discovered by the Sanderson family in Laytonville, they had it translated and decided to shop for the items. The presents were shipped out on Friday (December 23).

Frank Sanderson explained: "My son Lane just came home for Christmas, so we were out on the four-wheeler in the middle of our 17,000-acre ranch when we saw what we thought was garbage."

Julie Sanderson said: "For the balloons to make it this far down here - and for us to find it - is just unbelievable."

The girl's mother, Rosa Cardenas de Beyes, admitted that being unemployed led to the idea of sending the letter with balloons.

"Right now, I don't have a job," she said. "I didn't know what to do.

"So I always told her we would send a balloon to Santa because that was a tradition when I was little."

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