Fielder’s Choice

Parents, here’s hoping you’ve kept those Letters to San ta over the years.

The letters are a wonderful community newspaper tradition as far as this editor is concerned. I’ve always enjoyed publishing them and then making sure they reach the North Pole in plenty of time.

Our son Andy is 26.

He wrote this as a second grader: “Dear Santa, This is what I want for Christmas. I want a PlayStation, fourwheeler, skates, bike, skateboard. I have a sister, and my mom is going to have a boy or a girl. My mom wants a van. And my dad wants a truck. I don’t know what my sister wants.”

I did correct a few misspelled words from the way it was published in the 2001 edition of The South Reporter.

And by the way, he wrote that when Pam was pregnant with Erin.

I recall helping type Letters to Santa from my days at The Itawamba County Times and The Aberdeen Examiner.

It’s always a bit challenging – either leaving them exactly as young children write them or perhaps making a few corrections/adjustments. We prefer for them to be as authentic as possible.

Emma, now 29, was our first child to have her Letter to Santa published. She was attending Aberdeen Elementary School.

She was always good at stunning Santa at the last minute with a request, like the time he had to find a Little Tykes dollhouse for her at the last minute. But it seems Santa always comes through.

I found Erin’s Letters to Santa from 4K, kindergarten and first grade. She is 18, soon to be 19 on January 1, 2021

In 2007: “Dear Santa, I have been a very good girl. I would like a Leapster with games and I Can Learn to Play the Piano, a disc world map and a marble and domino set.”

In 2008: “Dear Santa, I have been a very good girl this year. For Christmas, I would like a Nintendo DS and a mechanical typewriter. I would also like a bumper ball and tattoo art set. I would like a newborn baby set and a kids desktop computer. I would also like a talking cash register.”

In 2009: “Dear Santa, How are your reindeer doing? I want an American Girl doll, Zhu Zhu pets, DS games, I-Pod, a DSI, XBox 360. I can’t wait to see you.”

The Christmas wishes of our children are much different these days. And we certainly cherish those memories of the times when they wrote these letters – 4, 5 and 6 years old.

The South Reporter’s annual Letters to Santa section is included in this week’s newspaper.

Unfortunately, there are not as many letters as usual from the kindergarten students, first graders and second graders. That’s because it’s 2020, the year of a pandemic when regular school classes have been disrupted.

Holly Springs Elementary students switched to all remote learning the past couple of weeks, and no letters were submitted from that school.

Special thanks to Kris Jones, who has faithfully typed The South Reporter’s Letters to Santa for many, many years. It’s a tall task, but he never complains.

Be sure and check out this year’s letters in Section 3, particularly if you’re a parent of one of the children. And save them.