I was surprised when Hare-iette said she didn't want to go with me to visit my friend Debbie and her grandchildren, Joseph and Allanna. Hare-iette usually loves to go there. The children are her friends. She also likes to ride their pony, Twinkle.

It was a few weeks later when I found out what she had done while I was away. That was the day phone bill came. There were several calls to the North Pole on the bill.

Hare-iette had called Santa. She had to call several times before anyone would let her talk to Santa.

Hare-iette told Santa how bad her new friend felt. She asked if there was a way Santa could get Carla's father home for Christmas. Santa told her that he knew about Carla and was sad that he couldn't help her. Santa said this was very serious, grown up business. It concerned the law and police and all. This was not something within his power to fix. Hare-iette was disappointed but understood that this was outside of Santa's powers.

Then Santa told Hare-iette he needed her help to grant some Christmas wishes. Of course, Hare-iette agreed, without even hearing what she'd have to do. First, Santa asked Hare-iette to find and make friends with a girl named Abbie, age nine. Santa didn't say any more than that, she just had to make friends with the girl, that would be easy.

The second thing Santa wanted her to do was volunteer some time at the hospital. Visiting sick people is a one of the nice, kind things a person can do. Santa asked Hare-iette to go to the hospital and find a person who had few or no visitors. Then she should visit that person whenever she could. Hare-iette agreed without question. This was Santa Claus asking!

The very next day Hare-iette started calling her friends and asking if they knew a 9 year old named Abbie. No one did.

Hare-iette needed my help for the second task. The hospital is too far for her to get there on her own. She needed a ride. I thought this was a nice thing for her to be doing. I said I would take her that same afternoon.

I took Hare-iette to the hospital. I watched as she went to the desk and asked for the name and room number of a person who didn't get visitors. Hare-iette got the information and waved to me as she skipped to the elevator.

Hare-iette slowly opened the door to room 302 and slipped in. The light was dim. There was a person in the bed. She walked over and said, "Hi Raul, I'm Hare-iette. I came to visit you." The person in the bed didn't answer.
"They told me at the desk that you wouldn't answer, but they were sure you can hear what I say."

Hare-iette then went on to tell the young man in the bed about herself and how she came to be there. She even told him about how she got adopted and came to live here. After about 20 minutes, she said goodbye and left the room.

When Hare-iette got off the elevator she told me it was a strange experience, but certainly not unpleasant.
"How often do you get to talk all you want and the person doesn't interrupt or ask questions?" she said. We both had a good laugh over that. I asked Hare-iette if she wanted to come back again and she said, "Definitely."