Writing a Letter to Santa

One of the Christmas traditions your children will treasure is writing a letter to Santa and perhaps receiving one in return. Do you remember receiving a letter from Santa when you were a child? I do, and it was absolutely magical to think that Santa had received the letter I wrote him and that he was actually responding in return. In addition, I felt sure that, if I could be good, I would receive just what I had asked for, because Santa had confirmed that he knew what I wanted – in writing! If you've never helped your children with a letter for Santa, let this be your year to experience this great tradition with them. (It's also a great way to help keep their behavior in line for a few weeks!)

Start by writing a letter – Help your children write a special letter to Santa outlining their requests for Christmas. This is a great time to work on the basics of letter writing. Be sure your children use proper letter etiquette, such as having a greeting, body and closing. Choose some beautiful holiday stationary from MyExpression.com to make your letter to Santa even more special. There are dozens of choices in stationary that are suited for children and especially suited for holiday letters to Santa. Be sure to have your children include the fact that they've tried to be good all year and a big thank you to Santa for the toys they received last year.

Make sure your children get a letter in return – Nothing is more exciting to children than receiving a letter from Santa. There are dozens of websites that offer letters from Santa, personalized with your child's name, address and wish list. There are lots of varieties from which to choose, from free letters that you customize and print yourself, to more expensive letters that come with a small charm or keepsake and are delivered in a bright red tube.

Be sure to customize your child's letter appropriately. You may need to refer to the original letter they wrote to Santa in order to get the letter just right. Kids are notorious for catching the simplest error or detail that does not match the letter they wrote.

For the technology minded family, there are also websites that will receive emails from children and process email responses from Santa. If your child uses email, he might think this is the best way to communicate with Santa. Personally, I think it’s far more exciting to pull a special letter with that North Pole postmark from the mailbox. However, I have told my children that Mommy has Santa's email address in case she needs to give him any special information.

After the holidays are over, help your children to write Santa a thank you letter. This is a wonderful way to encourage your children to use good manners and practice letter writing skills - and most children are happy for any excuse to write to Santa Claus!

Read other articles:
– Christmas Poems, Part I
– Christmas Poems, Part II
– Christmas Poems, Part III
– Christmas Poems, Part IV