Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

In the Wednesday, December 23 edition of The Brewton Standard you will find many letters to Santa – a long-standing tradition in the newspaper business.

The children of our community have written letters to the man in red to express their wishes and their desires for holiday gifts.

No doubt, some teachers used the “letters to Santa” event as an opportunity for teaching the proper way to write a letter. Some of the letters offered up a resume of sorts with children explaining why they, in their humble opinion, should be on the nice list. With everything from making good grades to praying for their family and friends, the children in our community, have no doubt, been helpful. And, I agree.

There are letters each year that bring a smile to our faces and even a few hearty chuckles. Take a read through the letters and you may see just what I mean.

Over all of the years that I have been involved with the letters that get sent to Santa and published in the paper, there have always been a couple that can bring a tear to your eye.

This year was no different. Some children are wishing for visits – either them going to see a special relative or having a special relative visit in their homes.

This year, of course, there were at least a couple of children who wrote letters to Santa who appear to be on the fence about whether the jolly old elf is fake or not. The wonder of a child is something we want them to hang on to for as long as possible. But time has a way of changing that wonder to skepticism and on to facing harsh realities.

There was one theme that tracked through many of the letters this year — the same thing that has tracked through all of our lives for nearly 10 months: COVID-19.

There were children who were concerned about Santa’s health (who can blame them) and were wondering if he’d been careful by wearing his mask. They also encouraged the traveling ‘granter-of-wishes” to make sure to wear his mask on Christmas eve. There were wishes of getting the corona virus over and done with, right down to making it so that we don’t have to wear masks anymore. Of course, since the virus is very much a part of our lives now, there were also a few wishes for new, fancy and specifically colored masks.

How sad it makes me to know that there are children who are wishing for pink, unicorn masks instead of wishing for an etch-a-sketch, an Easy-Bake-Oven or even a new bike or BB gun.

Sadly, those children are wishing for the same thing most of us adults are wishing for these days: to remain safe, healthy and loved this Christmas – more than ever.

Merry Christmas!