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Some Kids Are Asking Santa For Socks
Filed under: Holidays, Amazing Kids
Some kids are asking Santa for socks this year. Credit: Matti Mattila, Flickr
With the economy recovering somewhat, but not enough, it seems that some kids are asking Santa for socks this year.
The Wall Street Journal is not usually the place one goes for tug-at-the-heartstrings holiday stories, but this piece really got to us.
It begins with longtime Chicago-area mall Santa, Rod Riemersma, who used to joke with children that if they were naughty, he would bring them socks for Christmas. But this year the joke isn't funny, the Journal says, because some kids are actually asking for socks.
Other Santas told the Journal that children were asking for items such as "shoes, library cards and even eyeglasses."
And this story from a Columbus, Ohio, Santa named Mike Smith would melt even Scrooge's heart. Smith told the Journal that a 5-year-old girl asked him to turn her daddy into an elf. When Smith/Santa asked why, she told him, "Because my daddy's out of work, and we're about to lose our house."
Smith didn't know what to say to that, and he's not alone. Tim Connaghan, described by the Journal as a man who runs a "Santa-training school" in Los Angeles, has been advising Santas to tell kids that "things will get better" if they express concern over the economy and other issues weightier than a PS3, and that "the job of a Santa 'is to make the child feel better.'"
One WSJ.com reader who was touched by the Santa's stories, wrote the following: "Breaks my heart. Makes me more determined to clean out my five-year-old's closet and donate it to charity." Sounds good to us.
Related: Letters To Santa Reveal The Nice And The Naughty
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
12-20-2009 @ 1:53PM
Shima said...Aww thats so sad...I know we're in a bad financial status but it brings be sorrow to think these innocent kids are trapped in the middle.....
Reply