Peyton Manning Got a Christmas Card From a Stranger Every Year — Until One Year, It Stopped. So He Went Looking.
For over a decade, Peyton Manning received the same Christmas card.
Every year. Same handwriting. Same return address.
No letter. No autograph request. Just a card that said:
*“Merry Christmas, Peyton.
Thanks for being the kind of man my son looks up to.”
— Martha and Caleb (Your #1 fans in Iowa)”*
He never met them.
He didn’t know their story.
But every year, he smiled when the card arrived.
Then one year… it didn’t.
Christmas came and went.
No card.
And something about the silence — after so many years of gentle presence — stuck with him.
In January, Peyton asked his team to check the return address.
What they found was this:
Martha had passed away.
And Caleb, her son, was 15 — and had Down syndrome.
His mother had helped him send those cards every year since he was 4.
Now she was gone.
And no one else knew he was still writing them.
But Caleb remembered.
He had the cards Peyton had sent back — a few over the years, handwritten and kind.
So Peyton did something no one expected.
He flew to Iowa.
No press. No cameras.
He showed up at Caleb’s school, walked into the classroom, and asked:
“Is there a Caleb here? I’ve got a late Christmas card to deliver.”
Caleb froze.
Then ran to hug him.
Tight. Wordless. Overwhelmed.
Peyton sat with him.
Talked football.
Gave him a Colts jersey with “CALEB #1” stitched on the back.
And whispered something that made the boy beam through tears:
“Your mom kept sending me Christmas.
Now it’s my turn to bring it back to you.”
They still talk to this day.
And every year since, Peyton sends Caleb a card —
with a little note that says:
“Merry Christmas, teammate.
Thanks for never forgetting me.”
🏈 Peyton Manning didn’t just remember a fan.
He remembered a bond.
And when it went quiet… he chose to answer the silence with love.