Many kids know Santa Claus is coming to town soon, and there’s no question they’ve all been nice, not naughty - or at least they tried - so there surely will be surprises and squeals on Christmas morning.
But to give them an experience before the presents, parents have any number of ways to put their children in touch with Santa to just to say “Hi” or to be reassured he’s not having a senior moment and mistakenly thinking they want a Lego set when what they really, really, really want is “Minecraft.”
Whether you’re old school or high tech, Santa’s within easy reach.
The U.S. Postal Service can help with its “Letters From Santa” program in which it mails from Anchorage, Alaska - but postmarks “North Pole” - self-addressed stamped envelopes containing letters written by parents in Santa’s hand. Directions for participating in the program can be found online at bit.ly/LettersfromSanta
The program has been around for a number of years - last year 170,000 envelopes were postmarked “North Pole” - but the postal service only this year began promoting it widely.
“We tried it on my niece’s son. It really works,” said Mark Saunders, U.S. Postal Service spokesman. “The combination of the postmark with how Santa responds with personalized information - that’s what really blew my niece’s son away.”
He suggested parents photograph or videotape their child’s surprise and joy and post it on social media. The irony was unintended - emails, Facebook and social media platforms have been increasingly and steadily replacing letters as the way the world’s population communicates.
In fact, there are innumerable websites cobbled by capitalistic elves that will provide a way to communicate with Santa, some for free and some at a cost much higher than postage. Indeed, there are so many sites that Santa must be sitting at his computer monitor constantly, and he’s quite digitally adept - he may have been around forever but that doesn’t mean he’s a Luddite.
There are websites where children - of course under a parent’s supervision - can write Santa an email and even receive a reply, if requested.
“Too bad you have to work on Christmas Eve, but all the kids are sure glad you do!” wrote one 8-year-old from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on one site.
Some websites allow parents to personalize letters to be sent from “Santa” to their children. Others offer DVD greetings from Santa mailed to a child’s home once the Jolly Old Elf receives personal information to include in the video. And there’s even live video chatting with Santa.
Still, Saunders of the Postal Service feels there’s nothing quite like a handwritten letter. “There’s something unique about a letter. It’s something that’s physically created and can be treasured for generations.”
