A Special Christmas Job That Makes Life Easier For Santa’s Reindeer

My son Doyle is so fascinated by Santa’s reindeer. Every year on Christmas Eve it’s his job to put out the magical reindeer food. He takes his job very serious.

Last year Doyle wanted to go shopping to find a special bowl to put the reindeer food in. He took his time and looked at each and every bowl in the store. He wanted a bowl made out of either plastic or metal so he doesn’t have to worry about breaking it. Doyle chose a big silver pet bowl.

In the check out line Doyle was so excited about the bowl. He was going to use the paint at we have at home to paint Christmas pictures on the bowl. On the ride back home he told me every thing he know about Santa’s reindeer. I asked him questions about the reindeer and to my surprise he had an answer for all of them.

When Doyle was a very little boy he wrote to Santa and asked if Santa would send him the recipe for reindeer food. When Santa sent a letter back to Doyle he also sent him the recipe. Doyle showed everybody the recipe Santa had gave to him. I was glad that the reindeer food recipe was so simple. Doyle wanted to do it all by himself, without any help from anyone.

Doyle always mixes up the reindeer food the day before Christmas Eve. He wants all of us out of the kitchen while he works. He also fills up nine little cloth bags with food for each of Santa’s reindeer. He hangs those on a small tree that grows in our yard. He explained that the bags are so that reindeer have a snack to take with them on their long trip around the world.

Doyle can’t wait to set the food outside for Santa’s reindeer. Last year he also put out a bowl of water. He thought that since we put water out for our dog Bessie we might as well put some water out for them too. When the sun has set on Christmas Eve Doyle’s eyes constantly scan the sky hoping to catch a glimpse of Santa and his reindeer flying by.

Every year that Doyle has set out the food he has received a special Christmas letter. These letters are from Rudolph. In the letter all the reindeer thank Daniel for the food. They really liked the bags of snacks he made. They hoped that next year they could count on him to help them once again. Doyle’s reindeer food adds a bit of magic to our Christmas.

Santa Letters For Those Special Kodak Moments

Last year I was ready and waiting when my three grandchildren received their letters from Santa. You see, writing a Letter to santa has been a family holiday tradition since I was a child. For as long as I can remember the evening of Thanksgiving Day has always been designated as the official and traditional time for children of the family to write Santa Claus a letter and work on Christmas craft projects. This always seemed like the perfect way to end the Thanksgiving holiday and bring in the Christmas season.

Santa Letters are excitedly discussed over the meal and the children’s enthusiasm for writing grows long before dessert begins. As the writing begins each child has his/her own ideas about what must be included. One may feel the need to explain away a few bad grades or even some misbehavior and another may only make a list of what the perfect Christmas gifts under the tree would be. This varies from child to child and even from year to year.

When the letters are ready they are stuffed into envelopes and addressed to Santa at the North Pole. Then the wait begins. The children look forward to receiving a response to their letters. In years gone by this was a difficult task to carry out because as parents, we had to somehow get the ‘Letter from Santa’ into the mailbox at a time that would make the children believe it was delivered by the mail carrier. The other challenge was writing a letter that seemed authentic enough to be believable.

Nowadays parents do not have to do any sneaky work at all. Fortunately, there are now ways to have genuine letters from Santa delivered by your official mail carrier, along with other mail. And that brings us to where I was yesterday when my three grandchildren received their Christmas letters.

Daniel, my oldest is 10 and he was on the fence about believing in Santa Claus at all. When he received his letter his look was one of amazement. His eyes were wide and he almost looked afraid to open it. Savannah is 9 years old and an avid believer. When she saw the letter addressed to her it was as if she had known it was going to arrive at just that moment – no surprises at all; but Savannah read her letter in private before she shared it with us. Madilynn is only 3. She believes wholeheartedly and the simple fact that Santa wrote her a letter made her shrill with delight.

While each of my grandchildren had a different reaction, each facial expression was priceless – they were what people often refer to as Kodak moments!

Christmas Season Begins With Santa Letters

According to Santa Himself, the tradition of writing letters to him marks the official beginning of the Christmas season for many families throughout the world. In the early days letters to Santa Claus were mostly written for the sole purpose of asking for things children wanted for Christmas. But over the generations, as more and more children became aware of Santa’s Naughty and Nice Lists, many children started using Santa Letters as an opportunity to explain away bad behavior.

That’s one of the reasons that Letters from Santa are so meaningful to children. A Christmas letter from Santa can relieve any worry about being on the dreaded ‘Naughty List’ and at the same time, it can assure the child that Santa has not forgotten him/her.