“Children have been very affected by COVID-19, more than we think. They are very worried. And what they want most, apart from the gifts, is really to be able to have a normal life, the end of COVID, a vaccine," says head elf Jamila Hajji.

NBC los Angeles
Date: November 28, 2020
By: Associated Press

Jim from Taiwan slipped a mask into the greeting card he sent to Santa and marked A "I (heart) to you." Meanwhile, 5-year-old Alina asked in her letter from Santa Claus to use the front door when entering, because the back door is reserved for grandparents to minimize the risk of contamination.

And pouring out her little heart to "Dear Santa Claus", Lola, 10 years old, wrote that she wishes "that my aunt will never have cancer again and that this virus no longer exists." The little girl explained that her "mother is a caregiver and sometimes I am afraid for her", in a letter that she signed with the message "Take care of yourself, Santa Claus and the Elves."

The emotional toll caused by the pandemic is jumping off the pages in the deluge of "Dear Santa" letters now arriving at a post office in southwestern France that sorts and responds to your mail from around the world.

Arriving in the tens of thousands, the letters, notes and cards – some simple scribbles, others elaborate labor of love in colored pens – are revealing windows into the tender minds of their young authors and adult Santa fans who also ask for a respite and happiness, at the end of a year of sickness and tumult.    [FULL  STORY]