A Girl in Mexico Tied Her Christmas List to a Balloon, and a Man in Arizona Filled It

A girl in Mexico attached her Christmas list to a red balloon, and an Arizona hiker who found the wishful missive reportedly wound up bringing the 8-year-old and her little sister presents. Randy Heiss was hiking near his ranch in Patagonia, Arizona when he happened upon a deflated red balloon in the brush and saw that a piece of paper with the word “Dayami” was tied to the string, The Washington Post reports. The piece of paper appeared to be in a child’s handwriting and featured a numbered list, leading Heiss to believe that a child was trying to send Santa Claus a wish list. Given the winds, he surmised that the sender might be in Nogales, Mexico, some 20 miles south. Enlisting the help of his wife, who speaks Spanish, Heiss ultimately reached out to a radio station in Nogales. Radio XENY host Cesar Barron talked about Heiss’s desire to find the little girl both on the air and the station’s Facebook page. Radio XENY subsequently reached out to Heiss on Thursday, telling him that “Dayani” had been found and asking whether he would be willing to meet at the radio station. Heiss and his wife bought Dayami nearly everything on her wish list, as well as some presents for her four-year-old sister.“Their eyes were wide open with wonder,” Heiss told the Post. “Like, ‘Oh, my gosh, this really did work!’” Heiss and his wife told the girls that they were Santa’s helpers, so that they didn’t ruin Santa for the children.