6-year-old catches Santa delivering toys on security camera in home surveillance sting

Santa Claus was no match for one 6-year-old from California who recently spent her time with grandpa learning about the surveillance gear he uses as a private investigator.

After "working with grandpa," Tessa Freeman from Visalia, California hatched a plan. She told her parents, Gingi and Jonathan, she wanted to catch Kris Kringle on camera when he visited their home on Christmas Eve – a move inspired by her grandfather.

"She knows Pop-Pop used to catch bad guys, and he's pretty much superhero status in her eyes," Gingi said.

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Pop-Pop, aka Thomas Edmonds of Edmonds Investigations in Hanford, near Fresno, California, has more than 30 years of experience in law enforcement, particularly detective work. His granddaughter might be following in his footsteps now, but she told the Times-Delta her current aspirations for adulthood are becoming an artist and a babysitter. 

Tessa wanted to speak to the right jolly old elf directly, but she worried he wouldn't deliver the goods if confronted in person.

"I knew that (if I talked to Santa) he wouldn't bring me toys and stuff like that," she said.

So, Tessa settled for using the family's home security equipment to capture images of Santa delivering packages.

But Kringle, who looks suspiciously like Tessa's father, Jonathan, has learned a thing or two about home security efforts in his hundreds of years on the job. In the footage, he walks up to the Christmas tree and sets down a package before noticing the camera. 

He waves, then grabs a discarded Santa hat from behind him, wags his finger disapprovingly and covers the lens with the hat. 

"I couldn't believe it!" Tessa said. "He put a hat up on our camera."

The next morning, Tessa and her 4-year-old sister Thyme were in awe of the video footage – and the gifts –Santa left behind.

"Santa gave us a lot of toys," Tessa said. "He gave me a bike and my sister a bike!"

Next Christmas, Tessa wants to try to catch the red-suited man redhanded again, though she's worried Santa might be doing some surveillance of his own.

"What if he knows (about next year's plans)?" she mused. "He watches on you every day, the whole year, actually. ... He knows if we've been bad or not."