About
About Christmas Santa Letters…and Me
Who Am I?
I’m a mom. I’m just a mom. I clean up the spilt milk, put band aids on skinned knees, and occasionally patch up a broken heart. You may not think it’s such a glamorous job. But at the end of the day when the lights are out and the house is quiet, and I can kick back, put my feet up and watch little snippets run through my overworked mind, I see my five year old son running across the grass, skillfully kicking his soccer ball. And then my teen’s voice echoes through my head as I hear her say ‘thank you’ to a complete stranger because he held the door. As I drift off, I watch another child struggle with her homework because she takes all honors classes and always strives to do her best. And at that moment, when sleep settles in, I realize that I don’t have wonderful children by accident, and I know there’s not a thing in the world I would trade for my unglamorous job. Because, after all, I am a mom.
What Do I Do?
I craft Personalized Letters From Santa for children, and I send them directly from the North Pole. These letters are designed to promote self-esteem in children, and not just tell them to be good or Santa will pass them by. They are not used as bait for presents under the tree, rather, to make children feel good about themselves and to celebrate their accomplishments throughout the year. Did your daughter learn to dive in July? Did your son kick the winning goal last Spring? Why not remind them now, during a season of giving? A season which promotes hope and faith and love… Instill confidence in your children and in yourself as they giggle and rip open their very own letter from the big guy…
Go ahead, tell your kids how much you love them; that you notice the great things they do. Use Santa, the icon, to tell your children how awesome they really are. Customize your child’s letter from start to finish with details only you (or someone watching!) would know. And then, add a paragraph saying anything you wish. Anything. It does wonders for your soul, and theirs.
Is sending a letter from Santa the only thing that you can do to raise your child’s self esteem? Probably not. But, to a mom, from a mom, when Santa’s letter arrives and he tells your children how wonderful they are, it certainly doesn’t hurt.
Why Do I Send Santa Letters?
My daughter jumped off the bus into my arms and sobbed uncontrollably into the crook of my neck. She was in kindergarten. “What’s wrong my little sweetheart?”, I gasped, but she would not even look at me. Between sobs she told me that one of her classmates told her there was no Santa Claus: That she caught her mom and dad putting all of her presents under the tree the year before and Santa was just a big fat lie. My heart stopped, and I had to fight back tears of my own.
As I sat at the bus stop with her on my lap I had two choices…I could tell her that her little friend was right, that there really was no Santa Claus, and crush the magic and innocence of her childhood. Or, I could sprinkle my own pixie dust and light up that little face of hers once again…I chose the latter.
I took her tiny little hand in mine and I said “Clairebear, there are two kinds of people in this world…those who believe and those who don’t believe. The ones who believe live in the magic of life and know in their heart that you don’t have to see something to know it’s there. And the ones who do not believe, well, they just don’t know how good it could be if they only had a little faith. Of course there’s a Santa Claus, everyone knows that.”
“Really?” She peered up at me with those huge brown eyes and I will never forget the glimmer of hope behind her tears. “Really.”, I said. And we walked slowly, hand in hand, back up to the house. She was very quiet, taking in all that I had said to her.
By the time we reached the top of the hill, she said, “Mommy, I have a plan. I’m not telling anyone what I want for Christmas this year. I’m not even writing a letter to Santa. And if he brings me what I want, I’ll know that he is really real. I believe you, but I know my plan will work. Then I’ll go to school and tell that old Shelby she’s wrong.”
My mind raced. What would I do now? And that was how my personalized letters from Santa Claus came to be.
That night, I called a good friend of mine and asked him to call my daughter and pretend he was Santa Claus. I told him what she did after school and the name of her best friend, her favorite kinds of cookies and other things that only I would know…or someone who is watching…
“But most of all”, I told him, “You have to find out what she wants for Christmas!”
Boy, when she answered that phone, her jaw dropped to the floor! She did tell good old Santa what she wanted for Christmas (but she asked me to leave the room first). Later, I called him back, got my critical info, and then sat down at my computer to type. I wrote her a letter saying how pleasant it was to talk to her, and how proud Santa was for all the great things she did during the past year.
And it worked! I started mailing letters to all of my children every year, and their friends, and my neighbors’ kids. And, from one parent to another, nothing feels better than making a kid’s day. So, I continue to send…and now I offer this little gift of love to you.
