MOOSE JAW, Sask. — When Gerald Smith heard his door bell ring 12 days before Christmas, he thought it was kids mucking around, as nobody was there.
But when the Moose Jaw resident opened the door the next day, he was surprised to find a tin of pear halves with a partridge sitting on top.
And then for the next 12 days, a different present representing the old Christmas carol was dropped off on the doorstep by a mysterious well wisher.
Smith, 81, and his wife Dorothy, 79, still do not know who has delivered the inventive gifts each day but they say they have thoroughly enjoyed the surprise.
The gifts range from some Dove soap representing two turtle doves to four calling birds attached to cell phones to some chocolate milk for the eight maids a-milking.
“The first day the bell rang and my husband went to the side door and he looked out and nobody was there,” Dorothy said.
“The next morning, he saw the pears on the step. They were out there all night because he hadn’t looked down.
“On the second night, it was around 7:30 p.m. He went to the door and there was the second one and it just kept on going.”
But the Smiths were never able to catch who was giving them the gifts, as the doorbell always rang at a different time.
“We had friends coming in and out one evening and some friends saw someone running with a hood across the neighbours’ front yard,” Dorothy said.
“My son-in-law thought he saw a kid running towards 12th Avenue.”
On the Tuesday before Christmas, Dorothy left out a Christmas card and a thank you note and explained they were going away until after Christmas Day.
But when they returned, the rest of the gifts were in the mail box.
“We have no idea,” she said. “We thought it was cute and fun and we were phoning our children saying we were getting these gifts and someone must like us.
“It is very interesting.”
Dorothy said she would like to know who had been so thoughtful.
“I think they do not want us to know, though,” she said.
“They were coming at different times. My husband was thinking of waiting across the street but he might have been standing there for two hours.
“We think they did not want us to know and it would have ruined the surprise.”
“I do not know why they picked us.”
Gerald said he liked the toy cellphones best.
“We are very happy to get them and someone went to a lot of expense,” he said.