I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus ...

For the past five or six years, I've been Santa Claus.

And I love my job. 

OK, I will admit that part of the attraction in the beginning was Strawberrt Daiquiris. Now, it is the wine. But there is much more to it than that. 

Here's the story: Several years ago, The Center of the Universe put out a mailbox on Main Street for letters to Santa. For a few years, those letters were answered by a woman of my acquaintance, who then submitted them to my day job as newspaper editor, to get paid by the column inch for answering letters written by little children. Sadly, the answers from Santa Claus were much less interesting than the letters themselves. 

Once she was no longer paid, she quickly lost interest in the position. That's how a few friends and I got involved in the Letters-To-Santa business. 

The first year, four of us were involved in the process. We divvied up the letters, making sure that siblings all got answers from the same "Secret Santa," and tried to answer them with warmth, compassion, and humor. 

Most of the time, we succeeded in at least two of those areas. And we receive a lot of other benefits in return: Laughter, Friendship, Holiday spirit, and a sense of satisfaction in having done something to make someone else happy.

The four of us consisted of a professional photographer, a business owner, an attorney, and an editor. What a motley crew we created, and how much fun we had! Strawberry Daiquiris were promised for our inaugural gathering, and we were not denied. The red color gave us a little bit of festive atmosphere, and we wore our Christmas attire to keep us in the mood. 

Santa hats and Christmas sweaters became de rigeur. When we ran out of daiquiri mix, we walked up to the party store and grabbed a few aseptic containers of wine (red, of course). Planned snacks were an added bonus. 

Our favorite part is reading the letters out loud so everyone could enjoy them. One of the classic moments from our first year was receiving a letter from the son of one of the local sheriff's deputies, who mentioned that he would be leaving cookies and milk for Santa. The attorney elf decided to respond to that message. She reminded the child that sometimes Santa gets tired of cookies. Instead, please leave a plate of vegetarian lasagna and pumpkin cheesecake for Santa to snack on. 

You can bet that the next day the deputy in question had a number of detectives checking for fingerprints on that letter from Santa. 

And then, imagine getting a letter from a little boy (Steven, or another non-gender-neutral name). He wants to have a Justin Bieber doll so he can kiss it every night. Or a very sincere-sounding letter from a kid that you know to be in high school. Or a two-page long letter from a child who has looked up prices at Wal-Mart, Target, Meijer and Dunham's. Or those that are obviously copied from a Lego catalog. Then there are the little girls who tell us at great length how good they have been, meanwhile requesting an iPod Touch with more than 8G of memory. Or the child who has put check-marks for good behavior next to the names of all their family members (including the dog). 

How can you resist answering letters like that? Even wine can't make this any better. 

There are also those with a bit of pathos. The child who wants Mommy and Daddy to love each other once more. The one who wants Grandma to feel better for Christmas. The one who says she doesn't need anything for herself, but please bring her baby brother a present. 

And, there is the humorous side of pathos: the child who wrote a letter to Santa Claus on the reverse side of a condolence "thank you" card. ("The family of Shirley Jones thanks you for your loving support in our time of sorrow;" complete with Thomas Kinkade illustration on the front). 

You have got to love this kind of a volunteer assignment.  I have to recommend this as an antidote for the Scrooge syndrome. Come and join us if you want to. Or start doing this kind of a project in your own community. The rewards are bountiful and the fringe benefits are great. 

I can't wait to hear your tales.