yuletide csi

In the matter of Merry Mistletoe, Auburn, California, December 2007:

We arrived home late on the evening of Monday, December 10th to find that we had had a visitor. Who it was we don't know, but one "Merry Mistletoe" (if that is her real name) had left a package on our doorstep with tissue paper, a box of gingerbread and holiday fudge and an envelope with the words "The First Day of Christmas" on the outside. With nothing else to go on---no latent prints, unfamiliar handwriting and a sudden, irresistible appetite for gingerbread---we took the evidence into the kitchen, dipped into the tins (disregarding all Halloween wisdom about eating unwrapped candy from strangers) and dipped even further into a mystery for the ages.

Or for the Agee's, rather.

Sure enough, another package arrived each day for the next eleven, each filled with holiday cheer, tissue paper and intrigue. As the days ticked down and the gingerbread disappeared we were left with great questions:

Who is Merry Mistletoe? Will she bring more gingerbread? Just how many maids were there a-milking again?

And now Day 12 has come and gone and still we don't know the identity of our strange, sly, sweets and savories supplying secret Santa. It looks as if this case might go cold---cold as a sudden winter snap.

Merry (if that is your real name), if you're reading this: Who are you, is there a Santa Claus and please, send more gingerbread.