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In Santa's Mailbag, a Peek into Children's Pandemic Worries


Rob Thompson

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In Santa's Mailbag, a Peek into Children's Pandemic Worries

Source: Associated Press
November 27, 2020 

I thought this article was lovely and definitely worth reading the whole story, its very touching and getting back to the heart of Christmas :)

LIBOURNE, FRANCE - Jim, from Taiwan, slipped a face mask inside the greeting card he sent to Santa and marked "I (heart) u." Alina, 5, asked in her Santa letter written with an adult's help that he please use the front door when he drops in, because the back door is reserved for Grandma and Grandpa to minimize their risk of contamination.  

And spilling out her heavy little heart to "Dear Father Christmas," 10-year-old Lola wrote that she is wishing "that my aunt never has cancer again and that this virus no longer exists."  

"My mother is a care-giver and sometimes I am scared for her," Lola explained, signing off her handwritten letter with, "Take care of yourself Father Christmas, and of the Elves."  The emotional toll wrought by the pandemic is jumping off pages in the deluge of "Dear Santa" letters now pouring into a post office in southwest France that sorts and responds to his mail from around the world.  
 Arriving by the tens of thousands, the letters, notes and cards — some mere scribbles, other elaborate labors of love in colored pens — are revealing windows into the tender minds of their young authors, and of adult Santa fans also asking for respite and happiness, at the tail end of a year of sickness and tumult.  

Full story: https://www.voanews.com/covid-19-pandemic/santas-mailbag-peek-childrens-pandemic-worries

 

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As the letters flood in, it's also clear that this goes beyond childhood. Santa is proving a beacon to adults, too, with some writing to him for the first time since they were kids.  

 

 

 

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