For Those Who Missed in November, Letters to Santa

Bryan is preparing for Santa Claus to visit, and so his letter to Santa contains a warning: "Please watch out for my dog, Smoky. He is a German Shepherd. He is three, but he is big for his age."

Casey adds: "Oh ya! Beware of M&M (my kitten). She gets crabby sometimes."

A different warning comes from Richie: "Beware of my parents! They stay up until 12 or 11 o'clock!"

Since 1992, yours truly has served as Santa at a community center in Saginaw, Michigan.

A big pillow was required at the start. Nowadays a smaller pillow will do. Regardless, it always has been great fun.

One of the residuals of this task is that I read the letters to Santa, such as the trio posted above. Some of our local teachers send these missives in bulk as a class project. In the process, I've received a few tips that could work for parents and teachers, no matter where you live:

-- Instruct children to write in which ways they have been good, as opposed to the traditional "I have not been bad." This is more positive.

-- Encourage youngsters to offer gift wishes not just for themselves, but for siblings and other relatives, and for their friends.

-- Even preschoolers can take part with scribbles. Don't worry about spelling until the child is 7 or 8 years old. Even then, don't worry about spelling too much.

-- If children proclaim they have been become too old to believe in Santa, they still can write a letter to God, Jesus, Allah, whomever.

With that, I wish to share passages from some of the more amusing letters that have come forth through the years. We can call them, "Santa's Greatest Hits." After all, as first Art Linkletter and then Bill Cosby informed us on TV, "Kids Say the Darndest Things."

So with my minimal narration inserted, here we go:

Michaelangelo tells Santa, "Hope you had a wonderfull vacation, now its back to businezz."

Craig asks, "How was your summer? Did you go swimming?"

Dan wonders, "How many malls have you been to?"

Many children, similar to Bryan and Casey at the start of this article, are concerned about how Santa will react to their pets when he visits on Christmas Eve.

Katelyn: "I have a dog but she don't bite."