By By Paul Keane
Publisher
Spent the better part of the last three days typing in Letters to Santa. The final verdict was more than 21,000 words typed in by my staff and I, which is a lot of typing when you really sit back and think about it.
For all the kids that wrote letters, thank you. Even the late ones that came in on Friday were put in the paper, although they were put in this section of the paper because our Letters to Santa section had already gone to press.
And, thanks to modern technology, we can tell all of the children that every single letter we received was e-mailed to the big old jolly elf at the North Pole. It's amazing what this technology can do now a days.
But, while typing in that multitude of letters, we found out a few things this Christmas season. Here's just a few observations:
The main thing we learned during this little project, though, is that we all want to go back to being kids, especially during Christmas.
There's just this magical thing about young and innocent during the holiday season. Face it, all you have to do is be OK during 11 months of the year and then, around Thanksgiving, turn on the goodness and be the best child you can. The reward at the end of that month of being agonizingly sweet and good? A bunch of free stuff under your Christmas tree.
No strings attached, just pure unadulterated fun. At least until you break the stuff Santa brought you.
Sure, you have to put out some milk and cookies for the big guy, but you can usually turn on the charm and weasel a few "samples" of the cookies from Mom or Dad before you put them on the mantle that night.
There is one drawback, though. On Christmas Eve, you have to go to bed early and actually go to sleep. Normally, you have to leave your door closed because your parents tell you that you can't see Santa. Fair trade off, I guess, but Christmas Eve never falls on a school night, so staying up late should be allowed.
But rules or rules, so I expect all little kids in Atmore to go to sleep early Tuesday night. Don't hassle your parents on this point. Believe me when I say the payoff comes the next morning.
I don't think any members of the staff of this newspaper would mind the trade off. In fact, I think all of us would revert back immediately if we could, at least for one month out of the year.
Paul Keane is Publisher of The Atmore Advance. He can be reached at 368-2123 or by e-mail at paul.keane@atmoreadvance.com.