Perhaps Santa will pop back to Alexandra to oblige today.
Otago coach Hesson and his frustrated players are desperate to regain that festive feeling when they play Canterbury in their penultimate HRC Cup match at Molyneux Park today.
There are two significant reasons for the Volts to get extra motivated for the clash.
They have a record of five losses and three wash-outs in the competition - in fact, their last actual cricket was played on December 15 - and today marks the return of top cricket to Molyneux Park.
The picturesque Alexandra ground was once the heart of the Otago cricket summer, and Hesson is happy to see it back on the itinerary.
"It's fantastic. All of us are hanging out to get back to Molyneux Park," he said yesterday.
"The ground is a huge part of our history and most of our players can remember going to games there. It's exciting."
Twenty/20 is all about clearing the fence, but Hesson said Molyneux Park's dimensions offered the potential to approach the game a little differently.
"It's a big field, so it gives you a little bit more room for error with the ball.
"You've got to be aware of twos and threes, so that brings in some different elements."
Otago, the national twenty/20 champion just two summers ago, started its campaign with five consecutive losses.
It then had games abandoned because of rain in Auckland, Mt Maunganui and New Plymouth.
Hesson, while acknowledging the Volts have lost their title aspirations, still thinks there is plenty of gain from today's game and Wednesday's clash with Wellington in Queenstown.
"We've been sitting around for 10 or 12 days watching the rain fall," he said.
"We've put some things in place and want to show we've improved for these last two games. They're really important for us, and for our confidence leading into the one-dayers.
"Twenty/20 is one of those games that can be hit and miss. We played some ordinary cricket, then we had to sit and watch rain fall. It's been a very small window."
Experienced Otago batsman Neil Broom is still recovering from an injured thumb, and the McCullum brothers and Ian Butler are on international duty.
Hesson has recalled batsmen Hamish Rutherford and Darren Broom for the Central Otago road swing.
Canterbury, which is fourth in the HRV Cup and needs to win both its remaining games to have any chance of reaching the final, misses new Black Caps batsman Dean Brownlie.
The Wizards had been riding their own losing streak (three games) before beating Wellington by five runs in Timaru.
Other games today are Wellington v Cental, and Northern v Auckland.
Points table: Auckland 24, Northern 18, Central 18, Canterbury 16, Wellington 14, Otago 6.
Otago v Canterbury
Alexandra, today, 5pm
Otago: Craig Cumming (captain), Aaron Redmond, Hamish Rutherford, Darren Broom, Darren Stevens, Chris Nash, Derek de Boorder, Sam Wells, Neil Wagner, Warren McSkimming, Nick Beard, James McMillan, Iain Robertson.
Canterbury: Rob Nicol, Peter Fulton, Ryan ten Doeschate, Shanan Stewart, Reece Young, Corey Anderson, Andrew Ellis, Johan van der Wath, Todd Astle, Richard Sherlock, Carl Frauenstein, Mitchell Claydon.
