This morning Father Christmas sent the children an e-mail. It seems even Santa Claus is now surfing the world wide web and probably Twitters away whilst logging in to check his Facebook page.
Via his Portable North Pole console, Father Christmas now has a video link. He sits in his chair in the North Pole and talks to each child. The children were mesmerized as they opened their e-mails to discover Father Christmas welcoming them personally. He invites them into this study where he opens his book telling him all about the children. The book cleverly displays a photo of the child and he refers to their hair and eye colour.
The three-year-old hides under the table as Father Christmas congratulates him on remembering to brush his teeth before bed. Once he has overcome his shyness, he begins nodding and answering Father Christmas’ questions. “Is he ‘skyping’ us?” says my rather confused seven-year-old daughter. In a round about way I reply. Our six-year-old is praised for not having tantrums anymore and our daughter for going to bed when she is asked. Even the Baby is congratulated on eating all his vegetable mush. Much to the older two children’s delight he lets them into some of his inner secrets. He describes how he manages to visit every child in the world in one night, how his reindeer fly and how he finds out which children have been good.
In our house we take on our own childhood tradition of writing a letter to Father Christmas on Christmas Eve. We sit round the fire toasting marshmallows and then post the letters up the chimney. The children run outside to watch the sparks floating off to the North Pole. I wonder whether Father Christmas and his interactive on-line web page might have an impact on our rather simple tradition.
Sure enough, that evening when I put the children to bed their minds are buzzing with excitement over the personal video link. My seven-year-old is clearly impressed by Father Christmas’ technical ability. “Mummy, does this mean we should e-mail our list to Father Christmas on Christmas Eve now?” she asks. “Absolutely not,” I reply. “Father Christmas loves letters.” My six-year-old adds, “He’s probably got an ‘iPhone’ though so he can check his e-mails while he’s on his sleigh.” I do hope not.
