Santa’s going to be broke

GONE are the days when kids look forward to waking up on Christmas morning to find their stockings filled with teddy bears, toy trucks and trains and Barbie dolls.

In fact, Santa Claus may have to fire his elves unless they have gone to graduate school over the past 11 months and took master’s degree classes to keep abreast with the latest trends on children’s wishes.
I haven’t noticed the transition but the trend of children’s wishes has gone high tech. In Friday’s issue of the Marianas Variety, an article came out where second graders from a school posted letters for Santa Claus with their wishes.
Santa has also got to be patient because almost all of the kids are asking things in exchange for being good, or for promising to be good upon delivery of the goods.
Here are excerpts of some of the kid’s letters.
Dear Santa, I want:
…a laptop and a Limo
…a laptop because every time I want to use our computer my sister is online. I also want lots of presents and an i-Pod.
… an i-Pod.
… a laptop and an i-Pod.
… a big computer.
…an X-Box 360 for Christmas.
…a watch for my dad, necklace for me and I want to be rich.
…a SPS and a car and a Happy Christmas.
…a DS and a big nice gift.
…a DS nintendo that can take pictures.
…a DS, color pink.
…a PSP and Ostrich Joshua
…a panda
…one of your presents (laptop)
…a sportscar
…toys, and i-Pod, Wii and PSI and laptop
…a car like a Mustang
…telephone and a computer and a new DSI and Barbie printer
…X-Box again and new games
…a pink i-Pod because I helped Mom and Dad
…a unicorn
…laptop, or DSI, or Wii or new PSP.
…give me a big house and I will be a good girl.
…give me a DSI and a lot of money and a laptop, and I wish I were smart, blond, pretty and white (Santa don’t forget to bring your beauty and make-over kit)
…to go to the North Pole. Now this is one wish which may require Santa to put up a travel agency.
A couple of kids are more practical and wished for school supplies “because I’m good” and a big bike and a pack of pencils and a desk and a computer and five books “because I have been trying my best to be good.”
And finally, here’s one that would surely make Santa Claus feel wanted.
…I want Santa for Christmas. I would like to see him in person.
I guess Santa can breathe a sigh of relief because this is from a second grader, otherwise if the wish is from an adult he should not relax because he may be presented with a long list of wants and wishes after the courtesies and niceties.
At the base of the 30-foot Christmas tree at the Paseo de Marianas are colored ribbons with wishes written on them in different languages. Here are some to mention a few. I wish:
…for a better life
…to improve in school
…for Dora
… for more jobs
…for a bike and a boyfriend (in that order?)
…for world peace
…for a better future for my son
…for a great voice
…to have money.
And a thousand other wishes more. Santa Claus has some options to continue distributing gifts in the future. He could go to the Legislature to present a budget for next Christmas, write a grant application to the federal government, or retire from service but not here because he may not be getting any retirement benefits just yet.

(This article was first published HERE)