Dear Hearts and Gentle People
November 22, 1920.

The date scribbled in a child's hand on the top of a tattered slip of lined paper caught my eye. It was obvious by the fragile fold at the center that it had been read again and again and then nestled in between the pages of the dog-eared Bible.

"Dear Santa, I am a little boy 4 years old," it began.

Always impatient, I quickly scanned the note to discover its author and there, in big bold letters, was the signature, "Your little boy, Mitchell Flint." The author was my father.

Brushing away a tear I remembered how Daddy always used to love Christmas. When my sister and I were small he had every bit as much fun as we did preparing for Santa's visit and on Christmas morning he was like a child himself going from toy to toy showing us how everything worked.

On the rare occasion that it snowed at Christmas he was absolutely beside himself with childlike joy, eager to rush out into the cold to build a snowman and to scoop up the makings of Mama's delicious snow icecream. Dancing around the house humming Christmas tunes, Daddy was a kid again, if just for a day.

I learned from my daddy how to see Christmas through the eyes of a child and I hope my children inherited that gift from me. There was nothing I loved more than seeing the faces of my sons on Christmas morning and getting excited over the very toys hubby and I had labored all night to put together!

Christmas brings out the child in all of us, I think, and every year at this time I am at once transported to my childhood with the placing of the first icicle on our tree. I pray that excitement never wanes.

I sat down and continued reading my father's note to Santa. "I would like for you to bring me a little pistol, some oranges, apples, candy and nuts."

In this day of I-Pods, computers, and CD players, it seems almost unbelievable that little boys and girls in the 20s and 30s asked for and expected so little from the big man in the red suit. Is it any wonder that we are so nostalgic at Christmas and wish for a simpler time when families were closer, emotionally and geographically, than they are now?

Why is it that we so love watching the same old movies every year around this time? Movies like It's a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Carol, and Miracle on 34th Street. With all that's going on in the world today...rampant materialism, war, broken homes, severed relationships...we are desperate to cling to what we now perceive as a "more peaceful, down-to-earth, easier time in which to live."

Hardships were common in those days, to be sure, but families really were closer and, come what may, they valued relationships over and above whatever money could buy which, at the time, was precious little.

Money was hard to come by in those days, I'm told, as evidenced by the following Christmas lists sent in to the Lincoln Journal some eighty years ago. Maybe you'll recognize a few of the names.

"Dear Santa Claus, I have been a good little boy. I would like a rubber ball, a little cap pistol, and all kinds of fruit and nuts. Your friend, Auby

Matthews."

"Dear Santa Claus, I would like some vases, a doll, and fruit, nuts, and candy. Your little girl, Bessie Dawkins."

"Dear Santa Claus, I want you to please bring me an air rifle, a top, a pair of scissors, some nuts, fruit, and candy. Thank you very much. Your little boy. Bill Crawford."

"Dear Santa, Please bring me a little stove about 2 feet high, a pair of overshoes, a truck about 2 inches high, and some fruit. Your little girl, Marguerite Strother."

"Dear Santa Claus, I want you to bring me a sleepy doll, some toys, fireworks, and a play carriage and horse. Your little girl, Ruth Lovie Flanigan."

"Dear Santa, Please bring me a tea set and fruits, candy, and fireworks. Love, Daisy Flanigan."

"Dear Santa Claus, Please bring me an air gun, some fruits and nuts, and other nice things. Yours truly, Melvin Clement."

"Dear Santa Claus, Please bring me a little doll carriage and some fruits and fireworks. Elizabeth Bentley."

"Dear Santa, I would like a doll, a tea set, and fruits and candy. Your little girl, Lois Dawkins."

"Dear Santa Claus, Please bring me a little ball, some farm tools, and fruit and fireworks. Your little boy, Frank Glaze."

"Dear Santa Claus, I'd like a wagon and some nuts. Your little boy, Frank Murray."

"Dear Santa, Could you bring me a gun, a ball, fruits and candy as I am a good little boy. Johnny Dawkins."

"Dear Santa Claus, Please bring me a doll, tea set, some candy and some fruit. Love, Roselle Dawkins."

"Dear Santa, I would like a doll carriage, fruit, candy, and don't forget my little baby sister and two little brothers. The oldest wants a car and the youngest wants a rocking horse and fruit. As ever, Kittie B. Maddox."

"Dear Santa Claus, I would like a little horn, fruit, nuts, and fireworks. Your little boy, Homer Connell."

"Dear Santa Claus, I would like some candy, apples, bananas, raisins and nuts and air rifle shots and a little wagon. Papa says I've been very good. Willie T. Kennedy."

"Dear Santa, Would you please bring me a pin cushion, some fruits and nuts? Your little girl, Frances Norman."

"Dear Santa Claus, Please bring me fruit and fireworks. Your little girl,

Lillian Glaze."

"Dear Santa, I would like a doll, a little tea set, all kinds of fruit, candy, and don't forget my little baby sister who wants a doll, too. Love, Mattie Kate Matthews."

"Dear Santa Claus, I am well and have been a very good boy and I will thank you to be good to me this Christmas. I want you to bring me candy, fruit, nuts, air gun shots and a little wagon to play with next year. I will be good to you someday when I get grown and strong and I will give you one dollar this Christmas. My father's name is Zack Florence and my name is Alex Florence. Good Night."

And with that Good Night, let me wish all of you the same, and the very merriest of Christmases.

May your New Year be filled with peace and joy... and all the fruit, nuts, and candy you can eat!!