The Magic of Santa

And then there was – that holiday season I was SANTA…

Like most of my “projects”, this concept started small and seemed totally do-able.

          SET UP A LITTLE TABLE AT THE FRONT GATE WITH EVERYTHING NEEDED FOR KIDS TO WRITE LETTERS TO SANTA.  Special chair.  Paper.  Envelopes.  Crayons.  Pencils.  And the all-important – MAILBOX (complete with flag to put up once your letter was inside).

 But once the letter writing station was mounted, I started on my other “brilliant” idea…

                 A LIFE-SIZED ADVENT CALENDAR, with different special treats, many of them gift                         wrapped and tied with bows, for every day of December!!

 I think you can predict where this is going…

And if your mind went straight to the work and the hours and the scotch tape and the wrapping paper and the confusion – well, you wouldn’t be alone.  And I will get to that.

But first.  First, let’s start with the MAGIC…

This holiday season will be one to remember.  I am a believer.  I am a believer in all things sparkly and magical and slightly quirky.  And this holiday season reinforced my beliefs 1 million times over.

Let’s talk about the Santa Project.  It has brought me so much JOY!! 

Since the first letter to Santa was “mailed” in our special mailbox, I have been SHOPPING (online).  Shopping for mostly toys, all requested in the letters, some of which I had never heard of and had to Google to figure out what they even were (Wild Kratts??  Plants Vs. Zombies??)  And you would think the shopping would have been my favorite part of the project.  I mean, shopping for over a hundred kids, FUN right? 

But actually, it is HARD to pick a favorite part of the Santa Project.  There have been so many amazing bits and pieces – reading the kids’ letters, wrapping and tying ribbons and bows, secret phone calls to parents to decipher phonetically spelled wish lists…

But I think if I had to choose, my very favorite part has been WRITING LETTERS BACK FROM SANTA FOR EACH CHILD. 

I wrote personalized letters in response to each person.  It was soooo fun!  It was the ultimate creative writing project, and I composed some letters I am very proud of.  I do believe that I may have switched some non-believers back into believers, made some believers even STRONGER believers, and well, for those who were obviously in on the “truth” – I made them smile big smiles.

Santa’s letters mentioned special things about each writer, things only Santa would know!  “You did a great job at being kind this year”, “I couldn’t believe how many times you said ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ in 2020!  I started to keep a list to count them but you said those nice words so often I lost track!’, “I know virtual school is tough – it is hard to pay attention.  But YOU, you my friend, are doing awesome!!”, “Your handwriting is so GOOD this year!  Have you been practicing??”, “Please give that sweet mother of yours a big hug from me, she had had a tough year,” and “My favorite part of the letter was your drawing!  You used PINK, which is one of my very favorite colors.  I showed your drawing to Mrs. Claus and we hung it on our refrigerator.”

But of course, it is 2020…  So not all wish lists were “nice”, and not all were things that Santa could wrap up and deliver in this sleigh.  A few kids asked Santa to cure Covid.  One asked for no-shot hormone blockers (they really want and need the hormone blockers but are afraid of shots.)  One asked for “A German Shepard that my family is not allergic to”.  And one asked for a baby brother.

Instead of ignoring those delicate and difficult requests, I decided to tackle them head-on.  One response to the request to cure Covid was: 

“The first think you asked was that I end Covid.  Oh my little friend, I wish I could.  I specialize in magic and Christmas and toys and joy, and the doctors specialize in medicine.  So, I cannot end Covid, BUT I did talk to some of the best doctors around and shared your wish with them.  They assured me that they are working VERY HARD (barely even taking breaks to eat!!) to find a cure for Covid.  They hate Covid as much as you and I do!!  And they told me to remind you that a vaccine is coming soon, so that is a good step in the right direction.  But, they stressed this part, WE MUST KEEP WASHING OUR HANDS A LOT AND WEARING OUR MASKS!!  Even after the vaccine we will have to do that for a while, until things start getting better.  So yes, it stinks, but we all have to pitch in and do our part, right?  (By the way, you should see how difficult it is for me to get my mask over my big white beard!  I had to have a special mask made.  Luckily Mrs. Claus is great at sewing!)”

The gut-wrenching request for no-shot hormone blockers received this response (this is just part of the letter):   

“Your request of no shot hormone blockers really made me think.  You are right – there SHOULD be no shot hormone blockers!  A pill maybe.  Or a syrup to drink!

After I sat (eating cookies) and thought about it a while, I considered going into the workshop and talking to my elves about making some for you.  But then I realized – the elves make TOYS.  Medicine like hormone blockers is not a toy!  The elves are the wrong people to give that job to.

So instead, I contacted some doctors.  I told them of your request, and I asked them to GET TO WORK on making no shot hormone blockers.  They assured me that they would do some research and try to figure out how to do it.  They sounded confident that they could figure it out but warned me that it would not be easy and would likely take a while.  They need to experiment, test it on people, and get it all approved.  (For what it is worth, I did tell them my deadline was December 25^th, but they seemed to think they would not be able to meet that.)

So, my friend, I am sorry.  I really, really wanted to grant your wish.  You deserve it. Heck, other people deserve no shot hormone blockers, too!  (Excuse me for cursing there, I just got worked up a bit about this.)”

The request for a baby brother got this response: 

“You asked for a couple of things, including a baby brother.  I am sorry to tell you that I cannot bring you a baby brother.  The elves make TOYS, not brothers!!  😊  But I have made a note in my journal that you would like one, and if I find any little brothers looking for nice big brothers I will give your mom a call.“

And what about THIS dilemma – what do you do when a child writes and admits that they were not an angel this year (this honesty was reported in 3 or 4 letters!)??? 

“Your letter made me giggle.  You reported that you have been, and I quote, “goodish”.  Now WHAT, my child, is “goodish”?  It is more leaning toward the GOOD side or the BAD side?  Is it right in the middle?   I would’ve liked a few more details from you…  So, before I decide what to put together in your Christmas box, I will need check my notes from the year.  I keep them in ABC order so that I can quickly read through them if I need to double-check on someone.  Let’s see here…  The “N” section.  Nancy, Ned, Nicholas (oh such a nice name!!), Niquita, and there you are, Noah!  What did I notice of your behavior this year…

          -          You did pretty well at getting along with your little brother

    -          You did not torture your cat

    -          You obeyed your mother (most of the time)

    -          You brushed your teeth before bed (again, most nights…)

    -          You were grumpy a few days

    -          And you sometimes put your dirty clothes in the basket

 I would say that I would give you “good” instead of “goodish” for your overall annual rating!”

Or, how about when the oldest child is the family seems to have stopped believing, but writes a letter to Santa along with their younger siblings.  Only, to point out the fact that they are onto the game, they refer to Santa as “Santa” the whole letter???  I’ll tell you what this “Santa” did – he referred to the child with her name in quotation marks in the whole letter! 

In the end, I wrote 108 individual letters from Santa.  Some people said I should use a template but I was having TOO MUCH FUN writing them!!  Things I discovered about my Santa as I wrote – he is a feminist, he believes in science, he supports equality, and he rewards kids who ask for very little with a LOT (wait until the kid who asked for a single candy bar opens the box fullllllllllllllll of big candy bars!)  I guess you could say my Santa is a lot like me, go figure…

I have gotten to watch several children open their gifts from Santa and it has been beautiful.  There have been literal, LOUD SQUEALS of delight!!!  Shouts of, “He knew!!!  He knew!!!!  He knew what I wanted!!!!”.  Many loud, “LOOK!!!  LOOK!  Look what he brought me!!!”.  It is glorious to witness (usually from hiding behind our venetian blinds to stay out of sight).  And just now I got to talk to a family with 2 kids – one who wrote a very clear letter saying exactly what she wanted (and of course Santa bought) and an older sister who wrote a nice letter but didn’t ASK for anything.  They were searching under the tree for the older sister’s gift when I came outside.  She was resigned to the fact that since she didn’t ASK, she wouldn’t get a gift.  She obviously doesn’t know this Santa very well.  The whole families’ eyes LIT UP when magically the gift for big sister was found. 

I can’t close without going into the numbers, and most importantly, the THANK YOUs.  Numbers first:

-          102 letters were “mailed” in our special mailbox

-          6 other recipients came about organically during the process and got gifts

-          108 Santa response letters were written and 108 people received gifts

-          Because some gifts contained more than one item, I estimate 200 items were purchased

-          Popular items were Lego, LOL dolls, Superheroes, dolls, and princesses

-          6 adults wrote letters (2 did not leave contact info so did not get a gift or reply – well, one will get her gift next month since she requested “a better government”)

-          Children these days are mostly named with names starting with the letters A – G.  There are loads of A and E names!

-          Old fashioned names are very popular again

-          Mad props to the parents who gave their kids the middle names “Adventure” and “Danger” and call them by their first and middle names.  I LOVE that!  I got to meet one of them in person yesterday, too!

Total spent on the Santa Project 2020:  $2408.74 (each gift averaged $22)

I planned on using funds raised at the Kindness Yard Sale to cover this project, but so many kind and generous people pitched in with donations specifically for these gifts!!  A total of $2060 was donated solely for this project!!!!  Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to the generous friends, neighbors and strangers who saw something magical and pitched in financially to make it happen! 

And THANK YOU to neighbors who answered my urgent pleas for more boxes, wrapping paper, and tissue paper.  Thank you to those who delivered cookies that kept us going. Thanks for the wine (which also kept us going!).  Thank you to the neighbor who gifted me the most beautiful Mrs. Claus outfit ever.  Thank you to the very hard working delivery drivers.  Thanks for the offers to help (which, because of Covid, I was not sure how to accept, but believe you me, if this project happens again you WILL be called upon to wrap!!).  

Special thanks to Elf David who put up with the mess around the house for a month, the late nights, helped track Amazon boxes (3 are still on the way as I type…) and wrapped gifts.

And most importantly - thank you to the believers.  The ones who helped spark my creativity and forced me to come up with many clever stories on the spot (“Ummm, how do the letters get from this mailbox to the North Pole??  Why, ummm, ELVES!  Of course yes – ELVES!  They come during the night and pick them up!!  What’s that?  Have I SEEN them do a pick-up??  Uhhh, no…  No, not yet…  They do it in the dark of night!  I try to stay awake and watch but it is difficult…”)

To my family and friends – our annual “Christmas cards” may be “mid-January cards” this year.  Your gifts have not yet been wrapped or mailed.  But I love you and I miss you. 

This is a season of magic.  It is not the Christmas any of us imagined, and yet it is Christmas indeed.