Two Letters to Santa

Life is sometimes very interesting when you have 15 years age difference between the youngest child and the oldest. That's how it is in our family and the Two Letters to Santa was the work of my 20 year old son and his youngest brother who was 5 years old at the time. The youngest needed help writing a letter to Santa.

The two boys sat down at the kitchen table with paper and crayons. The youngest had a long list of 'I wants' but the oldest cut the list to the 'most important' things. His thinking and explanation to the youngest was, "Santa is really busy and doesn't have time to read a whole bunch of things so just ask for the top five things you want."

Santa's first letter was composed of Hot-Wheels race track, Legos, a gun, and other 'little boy toys'. The oldest convinced him to make the final item something practical. "If you ask for cloths Santa will really notice that, think it's sweet and give ya everything on your list."

When the Letter to Santa was completed the youngest surprised us all with, "Aren't you going to write a letter to Santa?"

It was directed to his oldest brother who at first didn't know what to say but with a little coaxing gave in and started to compose his own letter to Santa. The youngest over-looked the process and handed crayons to his big brother. Being an artist my oldest son wasn't going to settle for just one color and created a beautiful rainbow letter to Santa.

Both letters to Santa were signed by their authors and set aside. Nothing more was said about either of them until a week later when the oldest brother came marching into the house from the mailbox. "Mom! What did you do with those letters to Santa we wrote."

I had not touched or even thought about them since the day they were written. But the 20 year old wasn't believing it. After several minutes of my pleading innocence he presented me with a letter he had received in the mail. "Dear Shawn, Thank you for your colorful letter I will see what I can do about your list but am afraid Mrs. Claus has an issue with your last request."

For the life of me I could not explain who or how this letter came to be but it went on to say, "Being a red-head my wife feels that you would be much happier with a red-head rather than the blonde you asked for."

My first response was to ask my oldest son what on earth he had asked for although from the letter from Santa I could imagine. He explained he had asked for a car and a tall, thin, blonde...

While I wasn't surprised at his list he was not satisfied with my insisting I did not touch the two letters they had written. I asked where he got the letter from and he said it was in the mail box waving the envelope addressed to him in my face. It was in fact addressed to him!

Finally the youngest son came into the room and big brother proceeded to question him about the letters to Santa. Out of the mouths of babes, "I put 'em in the mailbox, that's how they get ta Santa."

My oldest son went crazy once his little brother left the room. "Mom did you write this?" Waving the letter this time. "If you didn't do it who did? Someone read that stupid letter I wrote. They must think I'm crazy or something writing a letter to Santa at my age."

We never did learn who wrote the letter from Santa although I suspect it was our mail-lady who was also a red-head. My oldest son was embarrassed about his letter to Santa for years after. He did however marry a tall thin blonde four years later at which time I joked with him about the letter to Santa. He did not think it was funny.

There is a moral to this story. Don't write something if you don't want others to read it. You never know when it's going to come back to haunt you!