Dear Santa...

Hello, everybody!  This is Day #19 of "THE POP CULTURE ADDICT'S ADVENT CALENDAR", and before I go ahead with today's video blog, I thought that I would post an introductory video that will set the tone for today's blog.  It's actually a song by my friends (well, okay, they aren't really my "friends" as I've never met either one) Carnie and Wendy Wilson, the daughters of Brian Wilson and two-thirds of the 1990's all-girl group Wilson Phillips.

Now, while Carnie and Wendy are singing about going on a sleigh ride with their one true love, you notice that they're addressing Santa Claus in the music video.  And, really, that is exactly what this blog is all about.  Letters to Santa Claus.

I know that most every single one of you that celebrate Christmas must have written letters to Santa Claus at least once in your lives.  For me, it was an annual tradition for me to do up a Christmas list and send it away to Santa Claus in hopes that he would make at least one of my wishes come true!  

I know that when I was really young, I dropped off a letter to Santa Claus in the mailbox and sent it off to the North Pole.  Even after all these years, I still remember the postal code that you had to send it to.  H0H 0H0.  Get it?  HO HO HO?

(And, yes...I'm quite aware that Canada has some really wacky postal codes.  We use both letters and numbers!)

And for what it was worth, I always got a response back, along with the promise that I would get at least one of the things that I asked for on my list.  And you know what?  He always delivered on his promises.

And, sometimes I would write a letter, and it would be printed in the pages of the local newspaper.  It was a lot of fun trying to look through all the pages of the newspaper in hopes of finding your letter inside!  

Of course, nowadays, letter writing really does seem to be a dying art.  I mean, why write a letter when you can just link to all the items you want to have for Christmas by clicking on them with a computer mouse?

(Though I do have to admit that I did chuckle when I first saw the above letter making the rounds on Google.  It's creative, and at least the kid did actually write the stuff down!  I honestly don't even know if this letter is legitimate, but regardless, I did enjoy it.)

But with the cost of stamps rising (in particular within my home country of Canada where stamps are being raised to a ridiculous price), and more and more people sending e-mail and text messages to each other, I am feeling a bit sad that handwritten letters and cards are being phased out.

I mean, I know that technology does mean progress, but I also think that technology is sort of sucking all the fun out of simple pleasures such as writing Christmas cards.  Many people I know hate doing them, but I absolutely love sending them.

And, because I feel so strongly about keeping the tradition of mailing letters to Santa alive, for this edition of the Thursday Video Blog, I decided that I would write my own letter to Santa.

And, no I have not lost my mind.  I really did write a letter to Santa.

And to close this blog off...here's visual proof!  Tah-dah!