What was on your Christmas list this year?

By Cindi Shroyer, Pine Bluffs Post

In each of the past 10 Christ­mas sea­sons I have had the plea­sure to get let­ters to Santa Claus ready for print in what­ever news­pa­per I hap­pened to be work­ing in. This year is no dif­fer­ent. This is a task for which there is no equal. We give chil­dren who are in third grade or younger the chance to have Santa read their let­ters in the paper. And boy do we get some inter­est­ing letters.

My friend and for­mer co-worker, Patty, shared this about Santa letters:

“I always enjoyed the Santa let­ters which included requests for sib­lings not just the writer. The spelling always makes me laugh.”

Spelling indeed! We can tell when teach­ers have aided the cause by putting cer­tain Christmas-related words on the board for their young charges to copy down. The usual sus­pects are Rudolph, rein­deer, sleigh, chim­ney, presents and the names of the other rein­deer in Santa’s stable.

We can also tell what hot top­ics have come up at recess by what is requested. One whole class asked for the same elec­tronic thinga­ma­jig one year. A cov­eted item, that.

There are some dif­fer­ences in regions. In Ohio, we had lots of dolls and toys and elec­tronic gad­gets of all sorts. In Wyoming, we have bri­dles and boots and new trucks and trac­tors (the real ones!), a horse (and they mean it!). Chaps and a match­ing vest was care­fully requested this year, not some­thing I would have seen in the east.

There are per­sonal requests made that allow us to see into the hearts and homes of these lit­tle folk. “Please mak my dad better.”

“Can my mom come home dis year?”

“Grandma died. Can you til her hi for me?”

“I got a new bruder. Can you take him with you? I will lev him undr the tree.”

“Can you bring me a pnot buder samich? I didn’t eat sence a long time.”

We have made calls to teach­ers and prin­ci­pals to make sure these children’s needs are being addressed. I have to say I have never had a child lie in a let­ter to Santa. They lay their lives bare for this man who, for one night a year, make all things well and good.

Read­ing their let­ters always get me to think­ing about what I want. We hear that song “Grown-up Christ­mas List” on the radio each year now. The song goes like this:

“Do you remem­ber me/I sat upon your knee/I wrote to you/With child­hood fantasies.”

Well, I’m all grown up now/And still need help somehow/I’m not a child/But my heart still can dream/So here’s my life­long wish/My grown up Christ­mas list/Not for myself/But for a world in need”

“No more lives torn apart/That wars would never start/and wars would never start/And time would heal all hearts/And every­one would have a friend/And right would always win/And love would never end/This is my grown up christ­mas list.”

Pretty sim­ple, right? I want … every­thing to be per­fect. Not gonna hap­pen, no mat­ter how hard we wish for Santa to bring that lit­tle gift to us.

In the spirit of Santa let­ters I asked some friends to chip in and share their grown-up lists. The above-mentioned friend Patty said, “On my wish list this year are a mild win­ter to save heat­ing costs, and lots of purse sales in my Etsy shop!”

Another friend (who shall remain name­less!) would like a cruise named “Tom”!

“For me, I have asked for scarves/wraps since I am old and need extra warmth around my neck. ) Cof­fees and teas as always and gift cards for emer­gen­cies,” my friend Rachel said. “I have every­thing I need, and my prayer is that I can keep this job until the Dis­cover bill is paid off!

Lisa wants an iPad (also a com­mon request in this years Santa let­ters). Dan wants enough money to cover a planned mis­sion trip to Haiti this spring.

“Other than see­ing my kids happy on Christ­mas morn­ing, if I had to pick some­thing just for myself, I’d want a day to myself with a nice bub­ble bath, a body rub, and maybe get­ting my hair done,” Ruthie shared.

I have some mate­r­ial things on my list. New lotion and soap from Bath and Body Works, some spend­ing cash for my trip to Texas, a new com­puter (mine is really ready to crap out on me), some new clothes, paid off bills. I would also like to be healthy, happy, and remem­ber to look for joy and bless­ings in every sit­u­a­tion. I would like to con­tinue to do well in college.

Don’t our minds drift auto­mat­i­cally to the here and now and the future when we begin mak­ing wishes? We do think of oth­ers too. I have fam­ily and friends who have great phys­i­cal, finan­cial, emo­tional and spir­i­tual needs. I want them to have what they need and want. And going back to that song — I would like to see lives not torn apart, no more war, friends all around. Who wouldn’t?

But do we ever just dwell on the true need that presents itself at Christ­mas? My spir­i­tual brother and dearly loved friend Jon did and does.

“At the VERY TOP of my grown-up Christ­mas list is that EVERYBODY would come to the under­stand­ing that Christ­mas is REALLY about the birth of our Sav­ior, Jesus Christ, who was sent to teach us about God, the rela­tion­ship we can have with God and, who ulti­mately, gave His life for the for­give­ness of our sins,” Jon gave as his response. “There is NO greater gift that has been offered than sal­va­tion through Christ.”

“Yet … SO-O-O many peo­ple REFUSE to accept it, “even though it is the “ONLY “PERFECT “GIFT.”

Gotta just sigh here. Wrap my head and heart around that one. Ask myself why that wasn’t the first thing on MY list. Bet you’re won­der­ing the same thing — at least I hope you are.

Merry Christ­mas, dear friends! May you all come to know the Christ of Christ­mas this year. He is the only gift we need.

Posted by Guest 2 Columnist on Dec 30 2011. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.