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Dear Santa Letters Fulfilled

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Christmas time makes me want to watch movies like Miracle on 34th Street.

Warning: Spoiler Below
It is a story about an old man named Kris Kringle in New York who thinks that he is Santa Clause. He spreads lots of love and cheer until he is taken into an asylum. The only way Kringle can get out is if he disregards himself has Santa or if, in court, he proves that Santa really exists. A friend who is a lawyer represents him. Eventually, the case ends up in the Supreme Court. Because of the oddness of this trial, it gets a lot of media attention. Kringle’s chances look dim and the judge has to decide soon. The nation watches.

In a clever twist, the United States Postal Service hears about this trial. In an effort to get rid of “Dear Santa” letters accumulated from all the years, they send all mail addressed to Santa Clause to Kris Kringle. Kringle’s lawyer sees this as a ray of hope. Piles and piles of mail are brought into the courtroom as “evidence.” The judge, who secretly does not want to rule that Santa Clause does not exist, declares that the Supreme Court will not argue with another division of the government. Because the United States Postal Service recognizes Kris Kringle as Santa Clause, so will the Supreme Court! In the end, Kris Kringle is set free and he delivers his presents on Christmas Eve.

In reminiscing about this Christmas classic, I can’t help but wonder about those Santa letters. Do kids still believe in Christmas nowadays? What happens to the “Dear Santa” letters that kids write every year?

Recently, I was reading the Readers Digest on ideas to spread some holiday cheer. Like in the movie, the Post Office does keep “Dear Santa” letters. They give them to people who want to send these kids gifts. The Post Office will give them to anyone who asks. I imagine that they discard the rest after the season, as they will get more again the next year.

It’s too bad that there is no real Santa to give us presents. Sure we have our parents, but in the movie, even the adults got what they wished for. Why not be a Santa (or just a wish fulfiller) and give a kid the Christmas gift of his or her dreams.

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Posted on Friday, December 16th, 2005

This entry was posted on Friday, December 16th, 2005 at 7:00 am and is filed under Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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