Stingl: Letters to — and from — Santa Claus
You gotta love what kids say in letters to Santa Claus.
Sometimes it's brutally honest: "Dear Santa, I know I lied a lot this year," wrote Kyan. "I know that means I may not get presents."
Or inquisitive: "Does Mrs. Claus deliver presents too?" asked Sophia. "Hey, how much do the reindeer poop?" wondered Mike.
Or clear out of the blue: "For Xmas I would like a pizza because there so tasty and because I like them," said Simone.
These letters and over a thousand more were dropped in Santa's Mailbox at Cathedral Square Park as part of the Milwaukee Holiday Lights Festival. Sunday is the last mail pickup from the box.
Santa understands the power of working in teams, and he's happy this year to have the support of Interfaith Older Adult Programs to get all those letters answered and on the fast track to the children.
Letter parties are being held through Wednesday at six senior centers — Hart Park, Clinton Rose, Washington Park, Wilson Park, Kelly, and McGovern Park.
Christmas music was playing from a boombox and children's letters were stacked on the tables at the Washington Park Senior Center when I visited last week.
Santa's personal stationery, featuring Christmas trees and the jolly guy waving, was set to be used. Red envelopes were stamped and had return-address stickers saying Santa Claus, The North Pole.
"It's my second time doing it," said Santa's helper Patricia Mims. "I would have liked to have gotten a letter from Santa when I was a kid."
She made sure that Santa's notes to the children stray a bit from the script and mention a few of the requested gifts or answered their questions. You don't want them to sound like form letters.
"Oh, my goodness!" Patricia said when a letter from twin girls was opened. Their gift lists were voluminous. One ended with "and anything."
Across the room, Morgan Morgan, a program manager for Interfaith, was assisting 82-year-old Hattie Ward in determining how Santa would answer Charlie, who wanted to know, "Have you ever been seen?"
"I know when everyone is sleeping. So I don't get seen," seemed the best response.
This is an important job and Santa insists on some guidelines. "Keep it light and fun," Morgan said. "Don't promise anything. Don't talk about if anyone is real. Don't talk about religion or politics." That last one surprised me until Morgan said one child wrote to express concern about World War III breaking out.
Some of the kids' letters are no-nonsense pencil on lined paper. Others are decorated with drawings and stickers. Many are in children's handwriting. Sometimes Mom or Dad helps out.
Wish list items are quite specific and perplexing to anyone not up on the latest toys. Skylanders Trap Team (undead), one child requested. And Grossery Gang. And Equestria Girls. And Pokémon cards XD and Legendary. And Fungus AmungUs.
"I don't even want to know what that is," said Santa helper and senior center regular Pat Richard. "I would write for things like a sled or a train."
I opened a random letter and smiled at the selfless concern showed by Maddy.
"Dear Santa, I hope you and your reindeer travel safely through the snow. You have a very important job."
After naming a few simple gifts that would be nice to see under the tree, Maddy closed with, "P.S. What do you want for Christmas?"
Contact Jim Stingl at (414) 224-2017 or jstingl@jrn.com. Connect with my public page at Facebook.com/Journalist.Jim.Stingl