Anthony told Santa that he wanted a magical button that he could press to take him away from the tiring reality of epidemics. Jasmine’s Christmas list is short and to the point. I like the conclusion of “This Year, Govt-19, World Peace, Climate Control, New Xbox”. In these letters to Santa Claus, children across the United States still ask for toys, clothes, legos, and video games. But in a year full of sickness and uncertainty, a review of letters sent to the North Pole and those collected through the Post Office’s Operation Santa program reveal that the epidemic is overweight for children. Some people ask Santa to let the corona virus go. Others ask for masks for Christmas. Still others write about the challenges of going to school online or how they can’t buy gifts because their parents lost their jobs this year. “Dear Santa,” Jonah wrote. “I don’t want anything for Christmas, but I want to ask you if you can do me a favor: Can you please find a solution for Govt-19 and give us to save the world? Thank you.” Postal service helps fulfill Christmas wishes A century ago the postal service began to receive letters to Santa Claus. In Operation Santa in 1912, Frank Hitchcock, then Postmaster General, allowed postal workers to open and respond to letters addressed to the North Pole. The post offices worked with volunteers who agreed to “adopt” letters from children in need and send items on their wishlists. In 2017, the initiative went online in a few major cities. This year, for the first time, USPS released all the letters it wants to help children and their families for Samaritans across the country on its Operation Santa site. The mail service encourages volunteer donors to go online, select a child’s letter to “adopt” and fill out the registration form. The donor then buys the gifts and picks them up at their local post office, where a postal worker matches the letter’s number with the child’s address and mails them. For privacy reasons, donors do not have access to recipients’ addresses. Children open up to a person like Santa because he is seen as a useful, trustworthy person who spreads happiness, says Avital Cohen, a child psychologist at Beastree Child Psychology in Atlanta. “What I read in these letters is that children are really thinking about the needs of their parents or the world, not just their own desires this year (of course some kids are asking for the gifts they want this year, that is to be expected!),” Cohen told CNN. “Mr. Rogers is known to seek help in frightening situations – this is an opportunity to be helpers, and our children should be helpers even in small ways.” Since October this year, children and adults in the United States have sent over 10,000 notes and cards to Santa – USBS spokeswoman Kimberly Fromm said they reflect many years of hardship. “2020 has seen its share in ways that affect individuals and families. Covit-19 lost jobs, temporary unemployment and lost family and friends,” Fromm said in an email to CNN. “The program has always been about giving holiday gifts to families who have no means of providing anything other than basic daily necessities. This year, more families may be affected financially and emotionally.” Most of the letters written to Santa are already accepted by donors, Frm said. Postal staff will have until Dec. 15 to upload new letters. Many children’s letters reflect the reality of life in 2020. Unlike the rest of the holidays, behind the mask-wearing Santos Plexiglas barriers, the annual tradition of writing letters to the North Pole is a bit natural that can be given to children. But the sentiments in many of their letters are not trivial. Kimberly, a 13-year-old Texas girl, is not like many children listening to Santa on airplanes. But she asked for gifts for her three siblings and well-to-do parents: a workout machine for her mom and her step-by-step waterproof jacket. “This year has been difficult for all of us because of Govt-19. My step is only one (one) job and he had to stop working full time because of Govt-19. Now he works less because of Govt and all the money available to him is to pay rent and bills.” He wrote. “My parents think I’m writing this for my siblings, but I want to surprise them with everything they did this year.” Nine-year-old Alani asked for some gift cards for some Legos and his mom. She drew a smiling woman standing with curly hair with Santa – a happy scene that rejected the clear tone of her letter. “Dear Santa was around this year … because of Corona … my mom told me she couldn’t get anything for Christmas because she didn’t get paid much, so she couldn’t stop anything,” he wrote. A woman named Savannah from Massachusetts included a confession and an apology. “Socialist Party, I’m sorry if it was bad,” he wrote. “It’s very difficult because of Govit-19 and online school … I try to be good. I hope you understand.” A woman named Nia in Florida sounded a little more confident in her letter, which reached the North Pole when she heard that Santa was contagious. “Is Govt where you are? Otherwise I want to tell you that you are lucky,” he wrote. “Dad says we’ll find a way to celebrate even if he loses his job.” Andy, then 5 years old, is in California, and he and his little brother ask Santa for a Nintendo switch. He closed his letter with a longing to return to normal life after the epidemic – and spoke highly of the whole world. “I wish Govt was over, so we could hug,” he wrote. .
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