Monday, December 7, 2009

Santa Letters

My kiddos each wrote a letter to Santa. Well, Thing 2 had a bit of help from me, but she did manage to write most of her name :) I mailed them to the North Pole Canada. I had to explain to my son that since the real North Pole is so far away their letters may take months to get there. So, I continued, Santa set up a North Pole in Canada run by Santa's most trusted elves, a Special Operations team of sort. That way, the letters would only take about a week to get there, and Santa would definitely get word of what you want for Christmas. Luckily, my son was satisfied with this answer.


When I went to mail their letters, the postal worker asked me why I just don't email Santa. Seriously? Email? Hell, why email, I'll just tweet the jolly dude. I guess I am just old fashioned because I think that the whole part of writing a letter to Santa is using actual paper and pen, sealing the envelope, and hoping it reaches the North Pole in time. I loved watching my kids carefully pen each word, especially my son, who made sure each letter was perfect, each word spelled correctly, and a polite thank you added to the bottom of the page. My daughter loved telling me what to add to her list and made sure I was writing it all down, with nod and smile of satisfaction on her face. I can't see how typing an email to Santa would be fun. It is so impersonal. I don't think seeing the glow of the computer screen reflecting off their faces, pecking at each letter, using spell check, and hitting send, has that Christmassy spirit to it.  So, no emailing Santa for this family.

By the way, anyone know where to get a 'real giraffe' and an elf?