{"id":122348,"date":"2020-11-27T22:21:33","date_gmt":"2020-11-27T19:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/in-santas-mailbag-a-peek-into-childrens-pandemic-worries\/"},"modified":"2020-11-27T22:21:33","modified_gmt":"2020-11-27T19:21:33","slug":"in-santas-mailbag-a-peek-into-childrens-pandemic-worries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/in-santas-mailbag-a-peek-into-childrens-pandemic-worries\/","title":{"rendered":"#In Santa\u2019s mailbag, a peek into children\u2019s pandemic worries"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#In Santa\u2019s mailbag, a peek into children\u2019s pandemic worries<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n LIBOURNE, France \u2014 Jim, from Taiwan, slipped a face mask inside the greeting card he sent to Santa and marked \u201cI (heart) u.\u201d Alina, 5, asked in her Santa letter written with an adult\u2019s help that he please use the front door when he drops in, because the back door is reserved for Grandma and Grandpa to minimize their risk of contamination.<\/p>\n

And spilling out her heavy little heart to \u201cDear Father Christmas,\u201d 10-year-old Lola wrote that she is wishing \u201cthat my aunt never has cancer again and that this virus no longer exists.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mother is a care-giver and sometimes I am scared for her,\u201d Lola explained, signing off her handwritten letter with, \u201cTake care of yourself Father Christmas and of the Elves.\u201d<\/p>\n

The emotional toll wrought by the pandemic is jumping off pages in the deluge of \u201cDear Santa\u201d letters now pouring into a post office in southwest France that sorts and responds to his mail from around the world.<\/p>\n

\"A
A postal worker brings a trolley of envelopes addressed to \u201cPere Noel\u201d.<\/span>AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Arriving by the tens of thousands, the letters, notes and cards \u2014 some mere scribbles, other elaborate labors of love in colored pens \u2014 are revealing windows into the tender minds of their young authors and of adult Santa fans also asking for respite and happ<\/a>iness, at the tail end of a year of sickness and tumult.<\/p>\n

Like this letter from young Zoe, who limited her requests to a music player and amusement park tickets because \u201cthis year has been very different from others because of COVID-19.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I am not asking you for many thing(s) to avoid infection,\u201d Zoe wrote, signing off with \u201cMerci!\u201d and a heart.<\/p>\n

In theory and often in practice, any letter addressed \u201cPere Noel\u201d \u2014 French for Father Christmas \u2014 and slipped into any post box around the world is likely to wend its way to the sorting office in France\u2019s Bordeaux region that has been handling his mail since 1962. Toiling out of sight among vineyards, his secretariat of workers (who call themselves \u201celves\u201d) spends the months of November and December slicing open envelopes decorated with hearts, stickers and colors and spreading Santa magic by responding on his behalf.<\/p>\n

\"Postal
Postal workers who call themselves \u201cElves\u201d open envelopes addressed to \u201cPere Noel\u201d in Libourne, southwest France.<\/span>AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From the first letters opened at the secretariat from Nov. 12, it quickly became apparent how the pandemic is weighing on children, says the chief elf, Jamila Hajji. Along with the usual pleas for toys and gadgets were also requests for vaccines, for visits from grandparents, for life to return to the way it was. One letter in three mentions the pandemic in some way, Hajji says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids have been very affected by COVID, more than we think. They are very worried. And what they want most of all, apart from presents, is really to be able to have a normal life, the end of COVID, a vaccine,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe letters to Father Christmas are a sort of release for them. All this year, they have been in lockdowns, they have been deprived of school, deprived of their grandpas and grandmas. Their parents have been occupied by the health crisis and whatnot. So we, of course, can tell that the children are putting into words everything they have felt during this period.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are like elf therapists,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

\"A
A postal worker dressed as Santa, talks with co-workers.<\/span>AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Replying to 12,000 letters per day, the team of 60 elves sets aside some that move them or catch the eye. Lola\u2019s is among those that have stood out so far, with its heartfelt confession to Santa that \u201cthis year more than the others, I need magic and to believe in you.\u201d The elves say their sense is that children are confiding worries that they may not have shared with parents.<\/p>\n

Emma Barron, a psychiatrist specializing in the mental health of children and adolescents at the Robert Debr\u00e9 pediatric hospital in Paris, says landmark dates, including birthdays and holidays like Christmas, provide structure in childhood. Amid the pandemic\u2019s uncertainty, the Dec. 25 anchor of Christmas is particularly important to kids this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cChildren are quite surprising in that they can adapt to many things,\u201d Barron says. \u201cBut rhythms, rituals and things like that are an integral part of children\u2019s mental stability.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the letters flood in, it\u2019s also clear that this goes beyond childhood. Santa is proving a beacon to adults, too, with some writing to him for the first time since they were kids.<\/p>\n

\"Envelopes
AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One asked for \u201ca pandemic of love.\u201d A 77-year-old lamented that \u201clockdown is no fun! I live alone.\u201d A grandparent asked Santa to \u201csay \u2018Hi\u2019 to my two grandkids that I won\u2019t be able to see this year because of the health situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYour mission will be hard this year,\u201d wrote Anne-Marie, another adult suppliant. \u201cYou will need to sprinkle stars across the entire world, to calm everyone and revive our childhood souls, so we can dream, at last and let go.\u201d\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#In Santa\u2019s mailbag, a peek into children\u2019s pandemic worries” LIBOURNE, France \u2014 Jim, from Taiwan, slipped a face mask inside the greeting card he sent to Santa and marked \u201cI (heart) u.\u201d Alina, 5, asked in her Santa letter written with an adult\u2019s help that he please use the front door when he drops in,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":122349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/11\/AP_20329594446374-1.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[81965,66,1545,32232,68,77173],"class_list":["post-122348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-11-27-20","tag-christmas","tag-coronavirus","tag-france","tag-holidays","tag-santa-claus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}