Dear Santa: My First Letter to Santa in Almost 45 Years

Dear Santa,

May I call you Santa? I feel like I have known you my entire life, which in fact, I have known about you and your many wonderful acts of kindness all my life. I like to read about your adventures and misadventures as you go around giving gifts to all the good boys and girls on Christmas Eve. One of my favorite stories about you, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, was made into a television show in 1964 and I even bought the DVD for my darling daughter (who is an adult now) for her birthday this year. She loves to read and watch stories about you too and we are sharing that legacy with her children as well.

So I guess you could say Santa, that my family and I are big fans of yours and always have been. And I have to apologize to you because I haven't written to you in many years, not since I was a little girl actually and I am very sorry about that. My only excuse Santa is that once I grew up, some of the magic of Christmas seemed to fade away for me. I don't like admitting it and I sure didn't want it to but it happened anyway and I think that's because life was often difficult for me.

I want to put all that behind me though Santa and I hope you will agree that the past is the past and we must try to move forward and embrace life, even with all its inherent difficulties. Because life can be quite wonderful at times in spite of budget and wage and job cuts, rising prices on food and other necessities of life and a bad economy.

Christmas is coming, well I guess you would know that the best since you've been preparing all year for it but I think we, and I mean, people in general, sometimes forget about preparing for Christmas because we have to struggle so hard just to survive. In fact I wrote an article that I thought you could check out Santa. It's called "Ten Tips for Surviving Christmas During a Recession."

In the article, I listed tips for not just surviving Christmas during the current recession but also enjoying it. I wanted people to see that they really can thrive and not just merely survive for Christmas. Of course some of the tips I've listed are quite unpopular because basically I advocate being close as a family and doing things together that do NOT involve going to the mall and spending buckets of money. I know that I plan to follow my own tips because 1) we have no "extra" money to buy gifts this year and 2) I want to help my daughter give her three sons a loving Christmas they will always remember and not just because of the toys they got as presents.

That's why I'm really writing to you this year Santa. I mean, sure I would love to get some presents from you on Christmas Eve. I could certainly use a new digital camera, maybe one like the Nikon COOLPIX S220 10.0MP Digital Camera in plum at Radio Shack for only $129.00. There's even free ground shipping on it!

I love to take pictures of my grandsons but my current camera, a Kodak EasyShare CX 7300, is very old and doesn't always work right. I do admit that I love presents Santa so if you could maybe tuck a few of the books that I wish I had the money to buy into your bag this year, that would be great. Here's a partial list of some of the books that I would love to have from my wish list that I have saved over at Amazon.com:

Nice Girls Don't Date Dead Men (Jane Jameson, Book 2) by Molly Harper
Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs (Jane Jameson, Book 1) by Molly Harper
My Sister the Vampire #1: Switched by Sienna Mercer
Burn Notice: The End Game by Tod Goldberg

Oh, and Amazon.com also has this super cool, Stargate SG-1 Replica Mirror, that I would love to have. I love the Stargate series; SG1 and Atlantis and I am trying really hard to like the new Stargate Universe though it's a little harder than I thought it would be because it has a slower pace than the other two series. The mirror is so neat because it looks just like the Stargate that leads to other worlds.

Now we don't have a fireplace or a chimney but we do have a pipe above the stove you could safely come down Santa. I know it would work for you because the time we had a hail storm, the hail came into the kitchen through that same pipe and bounced all over the stove. That was kind of cool to see, I must admit. I will also admit that I can live without gifts for myself because I am not really writing to you just to ask for gifts for me Santa. I may often be selfish but I like to think that I am not selfish all the time!

I am writing to you this year Santa because I am concerned about my three grandsons. I know that material things are not the most important aspect of Christmas. I believe that Christmas should be about love and family, I really do. The only thing is that I don't want my grandsons to completely miss out on getting any gifts at all this year. And yes, Santa, things really are that tight financially around here.

There have been three budget cuts to my disability check this year and once the rent is paid and I pay the co-payment on my medicines, there is no money for me to buy gifts at all Santa. I am unable to even buy myself a pair of special diabetic socks.

So that is why I am writing, I need help this Christmas Santa. I have three grandsons, each very special in his own way. The oldest boy is ten now and he loves to play video games. We have an old Playstation 2 that I've had for seven years, thank goodness it still works! So if you could bring the Bakugan Battle BrawlersPlaystation 2 game for him, he would love it! The middle boy is eight years old and he loves Playstation games too but he also loves to play with his Bakugan toys. He would love to have the Bakugan Maxus Helios (7 Figures Combined Into 1). know it's a bit steep in price at $60.00 but believe me, he is worth it! My youngest grandson is only four years old and he is special needs. He is on the autism spectrum with PDD and he is as adorable as he can be but also quite difficult sometimes. He loves all things to do with Thomas the train and he would love the Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway - Sodor Gift Pack with Henrietta over at Amazon for $41.84.

The boys are beautiful Santa and quite smart too. They have us to love them and we try to make up for the fact that their biological father has run away and we don't even know where he is. I know it's not nice of me Santa, but maybe you could give that guy a lump of coal in his stocking this year? I'm sorry, sometimes it is hard not to feel mean towards that guy.

And if you get a chance, could you bring a gift for my adult daughter Santa? I know she would love a gift. She loves to bake and she loves Halloween. Don't get me wrong, she loves Christmas too Santa, it's just that Halloween is number one on her holiday list. She's a great daughter Santa. Last year, after I had my surgery and got an infection in the incision, she dressed and packed the wound every day for almost two months even though later (after I was healed), I found out that seeing me like that made her want to throw up and run screaming. She even wrote an AC article about the experience; "Diabetic Wound Care After Surgery: My Personal Experience and a How to Guide"

I made a list of things I am sure my daughter would love to have from the Wilton.com website;
Jack-O-Lantern baking pan $7.49
Queen of Hearts baking pan for $30.99
Mini star silicone mold for $9.99
52 metal decorating tip set for $49.49

Well that's all I am asking for Santa. I guess it's a lot more than I thought and I do apologize for that. I didn't mean to be greedy and I guess I should be asking for non-material things like world peace, an end to this recession, better wages for everyone, jobs for everyone who wants one, and no more crime. It's just that now that I am an adult, almost 50 now Santa, the more I've come to realize that material things are easier to ask for because there is actually a slim possibility of getting them and those other things, I'm just afraid there's no possibility, slim or otherwise of them ever happening.

I hope this letter finds you, Mrs. Claus, the elves and reindeer well Santa. I promise it won't be as long a time in between this and my next letter.

Yours truly,

Teresa W.

P.S. We will leave a tray of homemade Christmas cookies and cupcakes out on the stove for you. Please save a few for Mrs. Claus this year!