Dear Santa... a selection of Kiwi kids’ letters to Santa

8 December 2011

Dear Santa... a selection of Kiwi kids’ letters to Santa (2011)

[NOTE: All spelling and punctuation in letters is verbatim, but names have been changed to protect privacy]

With less than a week to go before the close-off date for Kiwi kids to write to Santa Claus and receive a letter in return, details are emerging of the startling things our children are sharing with the legendary Mr Claus.

Anyone wishing to write to Santa – and get a response - has until Thursday 14 December to do so. Post your letter to: Santa Claus, c/o Santa’s Workshop, North Pole 0001 – or visit the New Zealand Post website at nzpost.co.nz/christmas – and be sure to include your full name and correct mailing address.

New Zealand Post spokesman Michael Tull says, based on the thousands of letters received so far, many Kiwi kids are thinking long and hard about whether they’re on Santa’s ‘naughty list’ or his ‘nice list’. For example:

• Hi Santa I have tried to be good this year but my mum and dad tell me i'm not very good at it :)
• i am trying to be good, but sometimes my brain does silly things.
• Dear Santa, I have been a very naughty girl; however I love gifts.
• Dear Santa, I have tried very hard to be good this year but I have done some naughty things. I am sorry and am trying hard to be good. Please don't listen to Aunty Vivian and still bring me my presents please. I promise to try to be gooder.
• Dear Santa My mum says I will get a potatoe in my stocking if you think I have been naughty so I am trying really hard to be good as I would like some more barbies please.
• I have been trying to be good so iI am on the nice list this year buit I do not think I have been doing a very good job
• Dear Santa I would like another zhu-zhu pet. I would like a purple one. I have been very good. I have been feeding the chickens and getting the eggs. My brother would like another kung-zhu, even though he hasn't been very good!
• Even though I have had a hard time and have been in a bit of trouble I still wish to have a good christmas. Over the last four years I got in to the naughty list and this year because I tried so hard to stay in school and be good that must mean I am in the ok list. Santa all I want for christmas is my family to forgive me for all my mistakes and to have a good time. Oh yea please add choclate to that.
• Dear Santa I am 3.5 and I learnt about you last week. I am so excited you sound soooo cool! One of my favourite things is to check my letter box. We have subscriptions and I get cool stuff in my letterbox. Christmas this year is so exciting who knew that you existed and did such good work??!! For Christmas I would like a push scooter Santa. I am working on being a good boy. Not always that easy but i try. Love Tommy.
• i have been pretty good but i spilt my raspberry on the new carpet and mum was NOT HAPPY
• ive been good and bad this year more good than bad
• I promise to help my Mum and not fight with my brother even though he is really really annoying.
• can i please get a watch i have been naughty this year a little but i am sorry for it
• Hello Santa You said I have been lying, but I havnt. it must be that naughty elf that's telling the lies. I am a good boy. This year I would like the Police lego set that you couldn't fine last year please. I have been being very patient waiting a whole year. Thank you Father Christmas.
• I have been a good girl whole year. I have been nice to my brother. I help mum when she is baking. I love my dad, papa and nana too. I be nice to all. I do my study well. Sometimes I get angry when I cannot watch TV - but it is okay. I cry and then go and do some drawing.
• Dear Santa, I have been a very naughty girl and not been nice to my parents but I am hoping to get a present or else I will cause lots of problems for my parents.
• I am writting you a letter to say that I have only been a good girl sumtimes. My mum said if I want presants I have to be gd all the time. If you decide that I have been gd enough then Iwould really like a dress up,swimming goggles and barbies jet plane. I promise I will start being a nice girl.
• dear santa i am going to do all my wees and poos in the toilet. can i please have a monster truck for christmas.
• I will leave your milk and cookies out, if they are not there Dad will have eaten them, don't leave him a present if he has

But the most important consideration in their letters is what the kids want for Christmas – with many children being very general and asking for “a present”, while others get quite specific:

• hi santa i cant wait for christmas i want so much for christmas i am 4 years old now wow i am getting old
• I would like a new cricket bat or skateboard for christmas. A cricketbat on wheels would be awesome :)
• My mummy is writing this for me as Im 3 :) I asked for the ground not to shake on christmas day I have PTSD from the earthquakes and thats what I want most.Oh and a new ball the dog ate mine
• santa i wode like a prinsiss bed nintendow ds xl game
• if you cannot bring a doll house, anything that reminds me of you is okay.
• i dont care what i get for xmas but o matter what i love you lots
• May I also have a magic wand that can grant your wishes that last for ever.
• Dear Santa, I know I haven't written in many years but this year for Christmas I would very much like you to make the ground stop shaking in Christchurch.
• I am a good boy with an annoying brother so I think I should get something big this year.
• I wish for more fun with mummy and daddy & lots of love. Pressies are accepted also.
• For Christmas this year I would like a robot that would help clean my room and eat the food I don't like.
• dear santa I woot to hav a new tasfoma and a mere xesmes too wo
• This year I'd like a helicoptor for Xmas - not a toy one but a real one like my Uncle Karl. If that can't fit in your sack maybe you could bring me a Thomas the Tank Engine set, mum says a wooden one is better 'cos I'd probably break a plastic one.
• I want a new book for this Christmas because I ate most of my books!! Mummy says I must be a goat.
• Dear Santa can you pleas giv me all the Nijagoe spiners in the world
• i would love a cute little teddy bear for this christmas, a little snuggly one that i could hold onto during my ups n downs....!! Waitung to hear from u soon :)
• Dear santa I wish for a baby alive doll one that poos Lots of love from Rita
• For Christmas this year i would a remote helicopter, motorbike or tractor. I also would like 400 ducklings.
• to santa i wont play stashin 2 games and cloths and hast and shows and tesherts please and mowa[1]
• The best thing I'd like is a picture of a bat cause I like bats and haven't seen one up close. [After listing six other presents] Ohhhh and a spark scooter which is actually the thing I best want. I'd be happy if this was the only thing I got but I might not be as good for as long so the other presents would work for everyone if I got them.
• I want lego and world peace.
• Dear Santa all I want for Christmas is a big stuffed horse i could hug at night that has button eyes a stitched smile and the horse's skin is green.
• I really want to get a fence, so we can get a dog. A little dog that can sleep inside, and that is fluffy, and cuddly
• What I would like most of all is a baby sister
• dear santa i want for chrimis is 100 dollis and a wookr dog
• I would like a box so I can make stuff with it.

And in many cases, those wishes for presents or good fortune are extended to other people in the child’s life:

• I would like a pink barbie doll for my brother Kevin and a Ben 10 for my uncle Bill. I would like a jack in the box for my Aunty Kathy
• I have 2 brothers and a sister. For Christmas my mummy wants a full nights sleep.
• Dear Santa please can you take all the children in the world who have no mummys and daddys to love them and no food to eat a big big present sprinkled with fairey dust so that they can make a special wish.
• I would really like for you to help Mummy and Daddy get married. I want to get all dressed up and have fun with them and all of our friends.
• I love my Mum and her Girlfriend but I also love my Grandparents and Aunty, I understand this year that I hav a big heart and it is ok to love more than just my Mum.
• I know there are lots of kids out there that won't get much this Christmas so my biggest wish is for all those kids to have a happy Christmas and for you to give some of my presents to them.
• There is so many things I want, the main one I want is for my family to be able to do anything when and when ever we want to. Just want our family to have money and not for my parents to stress and worry about anything.
• i am 8 years old i would like katmandu jacket,wii,cooking stuff,a pet fish,lollies.one more thing santa, my older sister that is 25 would love a boyfriend for christmas. he has be rich and hot thanks santa,

New Zealand Post’s Michael Tull, who read through more than 3,500 of this year’s letters to compile these extracts, says it was a profoundly moving, and frequently hilarious, experience.

“2011 has been a rollercoaster of a year for New Zealand, and this was a wonderfully refreshing opportunity to reflect on the joy our younger generation feels toward their families and toward the Christmas season.

“A sense of happy loving families and of pure optimism and enthusiasm shines through in almost all of these letters.

“It proves the old saying, we can learn a lot from our children,” Michael Tull said.

(ends)

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[1] Approximate translation: “To Santa. I want Playstation 2 games and clothes and hats and shoes and t-shirts please, and more.”

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