Lives in Letters: Telegram from Santa

One December night, when I was just 6 or 7 years old, there was a knock on the front door. My mother or father went to answer it, and came back bearing the most important piece of mail I had received. It was my first ever -- and last (so far) -- Santagram.

Apparently, Santa Claus occasionally answers the letters of good little boys and girls. But being pressed for time, and in such a remote location, he does not rely on the U.S. Postal Service. Instead, he sends special telegrams, via Western Union, called Santagrams. I'm sure Western Union cuts the big guy a break, holly in their hearts and all that, because otherwise, how could Santa afford to send telegrams at all?

Here is my Santagram, from 1974 or 1975.

Dear Nancy:

I recieved your letter telling me that you have been a
good girl. I'll be coming to your house on Christmas Eve. So
get to bed early.

Love
Santa

P.S. I'll try to bring you some suprises.

A few notes:

Santa wasn't the best speller. In 8th grade, I'd pay for Santa's mistake, and be forced to write the word "received" 500 times so that I'd stop transposing the I and E. Luckily, I never had a problem with the word "surprises." Well, perhaps it wasn't Santa, but the guy at Western Union, who was probably transcribing so many telegram messages so fast for the Man in Red that he couldn't keep up with his editing.

Santa signed his message with Love. Isn't that sweet?

My brothers never got Santagrams, to my knowledge. Of course, they weren't nearly as good as I was.