When you are 75 years old and write a letter to Santa asking for a round-trip ticket to Scotland you don’t really expect to get what you wish for but that is exactly what happened to North Beach resident Marla Streator. Fifty-three friends, acquaintances and a few people she didn’t even know latched onto the idea that they could be a part of a secret plan to make her wish come true. Here is the story:

When Marla saw that you could mail a letter to Santa at last year’s Magic of Christmas event at the fairgrounds she went straight home and wrote the very first letter to Santa she had ever written asking for something she had wanted since the beginning of COVID, a round-trip ticket to visit family in Scotland. She posted the letter on Facebook and mailed off to the North Pole the “Official” Magic of Christmas’ form letter, declaring that she had not been naughty but nice. Unbeknownst to her Santa’s elves got busy immediately and spread the word that Marla wanted to go to Scotland to be with her sister who has gone though difficult times during the pandemic and to spend time with her Scottish nieces and their boys so her great-nephews remember who she is.

About a week after posting her letters on Facebook what to her wondering eyes should appear but cards and checks arriving in the mail from Santa’s helpers with “Have a great time in Scotland!” messages. Marla wondered, “Who spearheaded this effort?” and asked the only person in town that might have. “No, no, not me” was the reply. The secret was well kept. Cards kept coming in not only from friends in Port Townsend, but from Seattle, Bellingham, Olympia, and even out of state from Hawaii, California and Louisiana. Cards from two people Marla did not know in Louisiana provided the first clue as to who may have initiated this surprising effort. Most of Marla’s friends are people she knows through music and dance, many from participating in Centrum’s Fiddle Tunes Festival for 43 years, some of them Cajun musicians who either live in or visit Louisiana. That led her to figuring out who the co-conspirators helping Santa grant her Christmas wish were, but it took a couple of months to confirm this discovery which entailed looking through “Friends” lists on Facebook and finding the name of one of the people from Louisiana.

At first Marla thought these mysterious contributions would make going to Scotland more affordable and never imagined they would pay for a round-trip ticket, but cards and checks just kept coming and by August of this year 53 people had sent money or handed her cash for travel, enough to pay for a round-trip ticket to Scotland.

Fast forward to the fall: On September 13 Marla flew from Seattle to Aberdeen, Scotland staying at her sister’s historic home, Towie Barclay Castle, a ruin her sister and her recently deceased husband restored. Fortuitously Marla was able to visit when her sister still lived in the castle because it will be for the last time: the castle has been sold. In addition to Scotland Marla took a ferry to Orkney for a few days and traveled to southwest England for a week. During her five-week trip she spent time with family and friends, visited World Heritage sites, walked scenic cliffs and shorelines, passed castle ruins, sought out bird-watching locations, visited museums and cathedrals all the while experiencing the feeling of “people care about me."

Now, on a small table in a living room in Port Townsend are a stack of cards and a custom-made book titled “Marla’s Christmas Wish." That is the story.