Catholic Activity: Letter to the Christ Child

Instead of writing a letter to the secularized Santa Claus before Christmas, children should instead write letters to the Christ Child.

DIRECTIONS

On the first Sunday of Advent the children must write their Christmas letter--not to a Santa Claus--but to the Christchild (Christkind) who, accompanied by His angels, will bring the Christmas tree and all the good things on it and under it.

In this letter--and the letter is of great importance--the child makes known his most secret wishes to the Divine Child, and also the efforts he is going to make during the season of Advent.

Before going to bed the letter must be put on the window sill. The first thought in the morning is: "What happened to the letter, is it gone?"

Good children's letters are taken away during the first night, as a sign that the Divine Child is pleased with them. Others--and their number is usually bigger than the ones whose letter disappeared--may have to wait two, three or more days, a sure sign that Jesus is not altogether pleased with them, that their spirit of penance, of obedience, of work, of greater purity and charity must first wax stronger.

Activity Source: Your Home, A Church in Miniature by Compiled by The Family Life Bureau in the early 1950s, The Neumann Press, Long Prairie, Minnesota, 1994