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‘My parents are not rich’: Children write to Globe Santa why families need help
While most letters to Globe Santa are from adults and caregivers, there are a handful from children that are brutally honest about their hardships.
Globe Santa has been brightening the holidays for children in Greater Boston since 1956, and the vast majority of letters requesting assistance are written by adults – parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and other caregivers.
But there are always at least a handful of letters from children.
They are brutally honest, often humorous, plainly written requests. Nearly all of them are neatly printed on that familiar school notebook paper – and they get straight to the point.
“This Christmas, I want to tell you that my parents are not rich,” begins a letter to Globe Santa from a 12-year-old girl. “So even if I want to ask them for something that I like the first thing I would have to do would be look at the price because I am not an only child.”
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The family, which includes her 3-year-old brother, lives in Boston, and the elder sibling’s request made it abundantly clear that she already understands what matters most.
“Whatever happens, I know that I am going to have a good Christmas because the important thing is not the gifts but spending it with my family,” the 12-year-old wrote. “I prefer to spend a Christmas without gifts than to spend it without my family.”
A young boy from Brockton wrote very little about his families’ hardships. And while he may not have a flashy new iPhone or the latest Air Jordans, it doesn’t seem to bother him much.
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His interests are pretty simple.
“I am an 11-year-old in the sixth grade,” the boy writes. “I play games a lot and I love basketball. When I am at home I just relax, and do stuff my parents tell me to do. If you get the chance to read this letter I just want to say thank you.”
And a 12-year-old from a city west of Boston reminded this author that the pressures of middle school haven’t changed a whole lot in more than 50 years.
“I am now in 7th grade. As a girl, I have to care about my looks, and outfits. I constantly compare myself to others,” she writes. “I like fashion, but I choose to fit in so I dress basic. I wish I was rich and pretty.”
She is an Asian-American child in a predominantly white community, and her family doesn’t have nearly the means of most of her classmates.
“I feel left out at times, but it’s okay,” she writes. “I am grateful for everything I have because I understand others have it harder than me.”
Without Globe Santa, these children, and tens of thousands of others whose families are facing hardships, would likely suffer through a disappointing holiday season.
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Instead, they will know that the holidays are meant for them, too.
Christopher Tangney can be reached at [email protected].
For 69 years Globe Santa, a program of the Boston Globe Foundation, has provided gifts to children in need at holiday time. Please consider giving by phone, mail, or online at globesanta.org.
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