MIDDLESEX TWP — A pair of siblings have invented a way to provide a magical Christmas to children and decrease the stress on parents of picking a tree.

Joe Vivirito and his sister Debbie Bartley have created the Santa Saw kit based on a tradition Vivirito has carried out with his children for 12 Christmases.

The kit comes with a children's book entitled “Important News from Santa Claus,” a festive 12-inch, red pruning saw, instructions on how to use the kit, and a letter from the Jolly Old Elf.

The rhyming text of the easy-to-read book tells children that Santa spends his summer picking out Christmas trees for all the families on his list.

Santa goes on to explain in the book that he has left a red saw printed with the family name under a special tree he has selected for that family.

A letter from Santa included in the kit magically appears in the family mailbox some time before Christmas and lets the family know Santa has picked out their tree.

The excited family then goes to the tree farm, where the youngsters will “find” their Santa Saw under their special Christmas tree.

Vivirito pointed out that the project was Santa's idea, and he and Bartley simply wrote the book for him.

“It makes the day of getting a Christmas tree more fun and adventurous,” Vivirito said. “The kids can't wait to search for their Santa Saw.”

He said the Santa Saw also takes the debate out of finding a tree, as no child wants to eschew a tree specially selected by the guy that doles out the toys.

Vivirito hopes families will make the Santa Saw a new and fun Christmas tradition, and he pointed out that only one kit is necessary for a whole childhood.

Bartley said the book explains to children that on Christmas Eve the Santa Saw is to be placed with the milk and cookies left out for Santa's snack. The saw will then be returned to the North Pole for safekeeping until next year.

“The kids see the milk is gone and the cookies have been nibbled on and the saw is missing,” Bartley said. “It adds to the magic of Christmas.”

The idea for the kit came to Vivirito after several friends were impressed with the saw tradition in his own family.

“They said 'You should write a book about that,'” he said.

Vivirito went to his sister for help, and the two tore into the project.

“We looked into illustrators, then we thought, 'We could do this ourselves,'” Bartley said.

The duo wrote, illustrated and self-published “Important News from Santa Claus” themselves, and they found a manufacturer to create the saws and cardboard for the kits. They put the kits together themselves.

“It started on my dining room table, and now production is on my pool table,” Bartley said.

The siblings were excited when Field and Stream stores began carrying the Santa Saw kits this year. True Value Hardware's Pittsburgh-area stores, including Pfeifer Hardware in Mars, also sell the kits.

This season marks the second for the Santa Saw kit, which Vivirito said has been ordered from California, Florida, New England and beyond.

He said grandparents attending craft shows where the kits are sold often buy a kit for each of their children who have children of their own.

“We hope it becomes other families' tradition,” Vivirito said.

Information is available at www.santasaw.com and on the Santa Saw Facebook page.