A Victoria mother who thought her daughter’s Christmas care package was stolen by a grinch was relieved when Canada Post got the package to Calgary just in the nick of time.
Sandy Sirdiak sent a box of gifts to her daughter in Calgary in mid-December. By Dec. 20, her daughter hadn’t received the package. When Sirdiak contacted Canada Post, it insisted the package had been delivered on Dec. 15. They said it had been left on the front doorstep.
Sirdiak figured the package had been stolen, prompting her to write an angry letter to the Calgary Herald, scolding the “grinch” who would take the gift destined for her 20-year-old daughter, who would be spending Christmas without her family.
Her daughter, Atley, couldn’t get back to Victoria for the holidays because of her bartending job.
“I just want to let the thief know that you ruined Christmas for a young person who was unable to get home this year and will be spending it alone in your city,” Sirdiak wrote. Sirdiak detailed a list of the items in case someone received the stolen goods.
What she didn’t know at the time was that she had one number wrong on her daughter’s street address, and the person who received the parcel had already given it to Canada Post to return to the sender.
Canada Post, having seen Sirdiak’s complaint about the missing package, intercepted it and made sure it arrived on the right door- step by Christmas Eve.
“[Atley] called me Christmas Eve and she said ‘Mom it's a Christmas miracle, my package arrived,’ ” Sirdiak said.
Sirdiak said she was very impressed with the service from Canada Post, which has taken a beating this month after it announced the end of home delivery and a hike in the cost of postage stamps.
“I thought they were awesome,” she said.
The incident also gave Sirdiak faith in the kindness of strangers. A Calgary woman, currently in Victoria visiting family, read the letter and contacted Sirdiak on Boxing Day, offering to take another package back to Calgary on the plane with her.
“She had seen the letter and she offered to personally deliver a package to my daughter from me. It kind of touched a chord in her.”
