Letters To Santa: Washing Machine, Romance, Slime

MIAMI, FL — Despite our connected world of texting, video chats and social media, many children — and even some adults — still put pen to paper and mail off old-school Christmas wishes to Santa hoping for the latest video game, an American Girl doll, a puppy or even romance.

Some letters are touching, while others are serious. Some are downright hilarious.

There are some children who don't want anything for themselves, such as the one who wrote this letter:

"Dear Santa how are you? Mommy and daddy say that we don’t need anything," the child penned in a letter that found its way to postal workers Mirtha and Kelly a few days before Christmas in the Miami Processing and Distribution Center, which handles about 2,000 letters to Santa each year.

"We need ... a built-in washing machine," the child wrote. "I know you don’t usually write back but please write back to me because I am getting very good at writing."

The child received a response, but not the washing machine he wanted.

"Obviously, if the child is asking for it, the parents probably can’t afford to get the washing machine," Mirtha told Patch. "We’ll just try to keep it in the holiday spirit: 'I hope you get the gifts you are asking for. Keep on being a good boy or girl.' But we don’t specify a gift."

Some children leave no ambiguity as to what they want for Christmas.

"Some cut out pictures of toys," according to Mirtha. "They'll cut out from the magazines …. They make it easier for Santa Claus."

A boy named Ezra not only wanted to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas but also where he could be found.

"Dear Santa, look at the pictures to see what I want. I am going to be at my grandma’s and grandpa’s (house) in San Diego," the boy advised. "Please deliver my presents there."

One of the most surprising requests Mirtha and Kelly have gotten this year was for play slime.

"We read this and we’re going, 'What is this?" Mirtha said.

Many of the letters don't initially include return addresses, but postal carriers are trained to jot down the home addresses when they come across letters to Santa as they make their rounds. Everyone who writes to Santa with a return address receives a preprinted postcard, but some are given an additional personal touch.

"If they tell me they’ve gotten really good grades, 'My parents are proud of me,' I’ll say something like, 'Continue getting good grades. That’s so exciting. I’m so happy for you. You’re on the nice list,'" Mirtha said.

Some requests are timeless regardless of the latest fad.

"Everybody still wants a dog," Kelly said, adding that some children even specify they want a real dog after they've been disappointed with stuffed versions in the past.

"We had a little girl that the only thing that she asked for was crayons," Mirtha said. "That’s all she wanted. Kelly and I are like, 'What’s the address?'"

Sheila, another postal worker who was answering Santa letters, said she and her colleagues look forward to reading the letters.

"It puts a lot of hope into kids who don't think there's somebody," she said. "A lot of times, this is their only hope."

Mirtha said it's tough to pull away at the end of the day.

"It's infectious," she said. "You start reading it, and you really get involved with the letters and getting into the spirit of reading them, and feeling bad for the child or getting really excited or laughing."

One year, a woman wrote that she lost her home to foreclosure and was living on the streets behind a drugstore after going through a divorce and losing her children.

"I said, 'Well, where can I meet up with you? Where can I talk to you?' She told us, but they would make her move," Mirtha said. "It was just sad."

This year, a woman named Amanda wrote in hoping Santa would bring her romance in 2020.

"Dear Santa. Thank you. I appreciate the outcome of my job situation that I wished for. I'll be happier and less stressed out so I can concentrate on other things. Now my love life," the woman wrote.

"I am glad Ricardo is being a better friend now. He has been making it a point to text me more often and stay in better touch with me. I hear more from him now than ever before. I want to date him. I want him back in my life, not just visits and pen pal or texting buddy," the woman insisted. "There’s something between us. I feel it. I think he may have [felt it too] because he says he has considered dating me. Please, all I want for Christmas is Ricardo."