It takes a village to answer those 'Dear Santa' letters

NORFOLK

Inside a small conference room in the downtown headquarters of the Retail Alliance, a colorful gingerbread house sits on a credenza. Nothing else in the room looks particularly festive, but the four college students working there are assigned an important Christmas task.

They're reading letters to St. Nick.

Dear Santa,

I'm trying as hard as I can to be a good boy this year. I really, really, really want an R/C helicopter. So please, because we are low on money. And I want a dirt bike, please.

To those who include a return address, they reply with a pre-written response from 1 Candy Cane Lane, North Pole.

The response, copied by the hundreds onto green or red paper, tells the correspondents how busy Santa is and how cold the weather is up there. It mentions the reindeer and the elves and refers to the naughty-or-nice list, assuring the writers that they're probably in the proper column. It makes no promises to bring items requested.

"There's a lot at stake here: a child's belief system," says Susan Milhoan, president and chief executive of Retail Alliance, who carefully penned the response. "We don't want to promise something we know they won't get, so the letter is intentionally ambiguous."

The group responds to about 2,000 Santa letters each year. This year, several reveal that the nation's economic turmoil has trickled down to some of its youngest citizens.

Dear Santa,

I would like free text-ing on my phone for Christmas. I know times are hard, but I work very hard. I would like some money so I can buy clothes also. No matter what I get, I will be grateful.

Another child asked for two tickets to Italy for his parents and a chance for them to stay there awhile. He explained, "Because of the harsh economic times, they need some time off."

The alliance took on the letters in 1972, when the organization's executive vice president heard that the U.S. Postal Service destroyed most of the mail to the North Pole. He decided those hopeful writers deserved a response. For years, one Retail Alliance employee handled most of the letters, until she retired in 2003. Norfolk Collegiate School students then took on the responsibility and still respond to some. But the alliance resumed the lead role last year.

The letters travel to the alliance from all over the region. Some first land in the red "Santa Mail" box that the Princess Anne postal station in Virginia Beach puts out during the holiday season. Mail carriers collect individual notes - some stamped, some not. And piles of postcards come from Macy's department stores, which donate $1 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation for every customer correspondence to Santa.

They all end up at the Lafayette station on Tidewater Drive, where a postal employee fills bins and delivers them to the alliance office.

"We are ever grateful," says Fran Sansone, spokeswoman for the Postal Service in Hampton Roads. "They help facilitate the reindeer mail system, and it's a nice thing that they do."

The students, including Milhoan's two sons, work during their winter break on the alliance's payroll, along with some staff members. They spend most of the time stuffing and addressing envelopes and sharing the writers' stories.

Sometimes, the Santa stand-ins add a brief note to the pre-written response letter, referring to something the sender mentioned.

Dear Santa,

For Christmas, I want my mommy to win the Mega Million, so she can pay all her bills and be able to buy the house she has always wanted.

"I hope your mother's doing well, and I'll see what I can do about the house," wrote Bryce Dexter, a 19-year-old sophomore at Old Dominion University, to the Chesapeake girl.

"I like your card, and I will surely tell Rudolph hello," James Madison University senior Jessica Parsons, 21, added to one response.

Outside, it is about 60 degrees during a typical Hampton Roads pre-winter warm spell. That doesn 't bode well for at least one of the letter writers.

Dear Santa,

I know you think I want a lot of stuff, but all I really want is for it to snow.

The children are earnest. Many tell Santa they've been good this year. Some ask about the reindeer, the elves and Mrs. Claus and pledge to leave milk and cookies on Christmas Eve. A few include money, usually just change, or draw pictures. Others get right down to business with their desired gifts.

The most common requests are for Nintendo Wii or Sony PlayStation video game systems, digital cameras, Bakugan action figures, American Girl dolls, iPod music players and cell phones. More than one child included pages from advertisements showing items they want.

One meticulous girl ranked the six items on her list with a star system: Five stars means "really, really want"; four stars, "really want"; three stars, "sort of"; and two stars, "like." The Wii system and Nicki, an American Girl doll, merited five stars.

One child clearly received some coaching from a parent in asking for "stuff to draw with," adding that it should be safe, nontoxic and wash able. Another wrote, "I want 1000000000 dollars."

Then, there are the letters from children who request something other than toys or gifts.

Dear Santa,

Please can you come on this Sunday, because on this Tuesday, my dad has to go back to Iraq.

Adults write to Santa, too. Most mention that they have renewed belief in him. They ask for peace and happiness or improved health for themselves or family members.

One woman asked how Santa and his family are doing and said she was "rediscovering the childlike wonder" of writing to him as she helped her daughters craft their Christmas lists.

On her wish list:

"My dream job - with benefits; funding for my Ph.D (plus a small living stipend); money to pay off my student loans; an affordable health insurance plan for when my COBRA runs out; a new car."

"It seems that as I get older," she added, "the wishes have bigger price tags."

Carolyn Shapiro, (757) 446-2270, carolyn.shapiro@pilotonline.com