This is a big deal in our house. The kids have been talking since Halloween about what they are going to ask Santa for and whether or not they will actually be able to tell Santa truthfully that they deserve to be on the nice list.
I think this is a big deal for their literacy as well. I'm sad to say, this is the only English letter they send all year. When I first moved to Japan I sent pages and pages of letters all the time, but now with email and Facebook and Skype there doesn't seem to be any need. Which is quite athletic, actually, as I love the feeling of getting a handwritten letter in the mail and I would love to be the cause of that in others.
The kids do send postcards often in Japanese and get them from their friends and teachers, but this is it for English. I should do something about that.
The kids made a letter card and dictated to me what I was to write. They both remembered to start with Dear so I was quite happy with their progress. Last year Spinky wanted to started with Hey Santa! Spinky even volunteered to write Santa's name and his own. This pleases me to no end. I know he's trying to show off for Santa but I'll take these literacy milestones where I can get them.
The verdict is that both kidlets think that they barely scraped into the nice list, and each has promised to work on being good a lot more.
I know there are people who frown on Santa as lying to their kids but I love how well-behaved mine are. All I need to do at this time of the year is hum "he sees you when you're sleeping." and instant cooperation!
When we went to post the letters, my son told all the postmen why they were there and made them look at his tree drawing on the envelope. They were good sports, but at least one wondered why we were sending it to Canada. I must do more to disabuse Japanese people of the mistaken idea that Santa Claus lives in Finland.
If you want to write to Santa, and get a reply, you can write to:
Santa Claus
North Pole
H0H 0H0
Canada
Or you can visit the Canada Post site which has an email option as well.
So much to love about this post!
ReplyDeleteI love that they both thought about their behaviour and let themselves just scrape a pass. I love that he sees you when you're sleeping is an instant behaviour modifier. And I loooove Santa's postcode!
Do you do thank you letters in your family? Not the funnest thing in the world but could be another English letter-writing exercise for them?
I love Santa's postcode too!
ReplyDeleteWe do thank you letters but I've always written them for the kids. You're right, I have to get them involved!
I have been trying to spread the word that Santa lives in Canada...hasn't worked yet though :-(
ReplyDeleteHave you tried Postcrossing for the kids? I've received a few postcards either from kids or supposedly from kids. Maybe a bit too young right now, but in a year or two???