Whittling Away with Dick Brooks - Letter to Santa

December 2021

Dear Santa,

Hello Old Friend, how are you and your Queen?  This year has just flown by, it seems only last week I was writing my yearly missive to you and here I am doing it again.  All is well in our little world, no illnesses to speak of in our immediate family, everyone is busy and productive in their own way.  The Princess is a Therapist in Brooklyn and loves it.  She married a fine young man this summer.  We are proud of her and happy to welcome into our family.  The young Princes are both doing well and haven’t become a burden on society yet.  All in all, we’re a happy healthy bunch with a lot to be thankful for.

There, now that we’ve gotten the niceties out of the way, let’s get down to business—my Christmas list!  Just kidding!  I’ve been writing to you for lo these many years and each year my list gets shorter.  Forgive me for those first lists with 40 or 50 items scrawled out in my lousy penmanship.  Thank goodness you had the ability to weed through them and pick out the two or three items that I really wanted and needed.  You must have spent a lot of time talking with my parents.  Those gifts helped make Christmas special.  I have to admit that I don’t remember very many of the specific presents, but the memories of being gathered under the tree ripping packages open with my brothers and sister while my parents sat on the couch drinking their Christmas coffee and beaming at the mess we were creating are as sharp as if they happened yesterday.  They mingle nicely with the memories of my Queen and I sitting on the couch, watching our own paper tornado while we sipped our Christmas coffee.  I know that I’ve thanked you for the presents, now I’d like to thank you for the memories that I treasure more than any physical present I ever received.

As for this year, I don’t need anything.  A Corvette would be nice, but I know how hard it would be to deliver so I don’t really have my heart set on it.  Older people don’t really need much stuff, they usually have most of the things they need, so if you could, why don’t you use the time you’d spend on making my presents to make a few extra for the little ones that you might not otherwise have gotten too.  I know you do the best you can and that there are just too many that need so much.  You have a lot of people that help but I know how badly you feel when you have to pass a child up.  I’d help you if I could, I have skills and am a pretty fair toy maker.  In fact, the next time you see The Big Guy, could you tell him that when I finally leave this life, I wouldn’t mind spending eternity giving you a hand.  It doesn’t hurt to plan ahead.

See what you can do about that “Peace on Earth” plan you had.  We’re still at it down here and too many nice people are getting hurt.  Even if some of them don’t believe in Christmas, I know there are a lot of people who would appreciate even just one night when they didn’t have to worry about loved ones getting hurt or dying.  Maybe you could arrange to have that big star put in an appearance again, just to remind folks about peace and love.  You could have it appear just where it did last time since that seems to be the area with most of the current troubles.

Well, I know you have better things to do than to waste time reading a long letter so I’ll let you get back to business.  Thanks for all you do, I see your spirit every where and it comforts me.  Give my love to the missus and the elves and I’ll talk to you again next year.

Love you,

Dick