Operation Santa: A Family Dinner Table Talk

This week's Family Dinner Table Talk, from HuffPost and The Family Dinner book:

If you were wondering where Santa's elves are, it's the Post Office. Every year, they save millions of letters to Santa for people to pick up and help buy gifts -- and you might say these are the most important ones.

Many of the letters come from needy boys and girls, the kids who might not get any presents from their moms and dads. Since they know their parents don’t have the money to buy extra toys, bikes, clothes and more, they ask Santa. Sometimes the letters even come from the parents themselves because they want so badly for their children to get something special for Christmas, even though they themselves can’t afford to buy it.

We've included some of these letters below to look at. They can be really heart-wrenching to read, but, as we talked about last week in Table Talk, the holidays are about giving. That spirit starts with knowing more about what other people need.

It's easy to take part in Operation Santa. All you have to do is go to your local post office (click here for a list of participating post offices), pick out a letter, shop for something listed on that letter (even the smallest gift counts), and return the package to the post office. Along with Santa, they'll take care of the rest.

Questions for discussion:

• Would you want to help out Operation Santa?
• How would you feel if you met someone your age who couldn't get presents this year?
• What's something else you can do to help a needy family during the holidays?

****** In her new cookbook, The Family Dinner, Laurie David talks about the importance of families making a ritual of sitting down to dinner together, and how family dinners offer a great opportunity for meaningful discussions about the day's news. "Dinner," she says, "is as much about digestible conversation as it is about delicious food."

We couldn't agree more. So HuffPost has joined with Laurie and every Friday afternoon, just in time for dinner, our editors highlight one of the most compelling news stories of the week -- stories that will spark a lively discussion among the whole family.

Click here to see last week's Family Dinner Download

Subscribe to receive HuffPost Family Dinner Downloads by email every Friday afternoon.

For more tips and recipes, check out The Family Dinner: Great Ways to Connect with Your Kids, One Meal at a Time by Laurie David and Kirstin Uhrenholdt (thefamilydinnerbook.com).

Comments

[SantaMonican]

03:31 PM on 12/16/2011

Give any way you can this year, even though times are tough. Spare change for the bell ringer or a slightly larger tip of appreitiation for a service person- consider their family. Buy products at the store who's profits go towards charity- like Newmans (their lemonaide is amazing).

Give and ye shall recieve.

[Zorandi]

03:26 PM on 12/16/2011

I live in Moraga, CA, a better-off-than-most community near San Francisco. When I heard about the program, I decided it would be a good project to do with my grandchildren. It took me 2 days of telephoning to finally find someone who knew about the program, where to go, deadline, etc. NO ONE, including the Supervisor, at my local PO knew of it or had any interest in helping. I eventually went to downtown Oakland where the volunteers were very helpful. I chose letters of kids close to my grands age. Now, instead of being able to mail the gifts off at my local PO, I must return to Oakland. If others in my community knew of this program, and it were easy to mail the packages, I'm sure there would be a very good response. We are here to help, but need to know these programs exist.

[super kitteh]

01:45 PM on 12/16/2011

I never believed in Santa Claus

[raynaysride]

06:25 AM on 12/17/2011

Ah but other people do; giving something, time, a can of food, a helping hand, not just at Christmas, but all the time, I am giving you a hug, cuz i think you might need one

[Snappingginger]

01:18 PM on 12/16/2011

I will help anyone except a person who chooses to be a single parent, when you choose to be a single parent you choose to live a life of poverty, you choose for your children to have no Christmas presents, you choose to have an empty fridge, your choice, now if you are single because your spouse died then thats different, and if hardship befalls a married couple and their children thats different too, but if you are not married, do not intend to marry, and have more than 1 child, I wouldn't throw a dime at you on a bet.

[whoknew---]

01:30 PM on 12/16/2011

What if that person who "chooses" to be a single parent had a responsible well-paying job and one day was laid off?

How is that different from a married couple who experiences the same kind of economic catastrophe?

How do you justify condemning one person because of their non-marital status on such faulty reasoning?

[Snappingginger]

01:49 PM on 12/16/2011

Oh i know I'm being unreasonable, but aren't you just a little tired of paying for someone elses kids, Don't you think its time for people to think before they have these kids? And with all this birth control around its just frustrating, I wanted 10 kids, but my husband and I only had 2 because thats what we could afford. But you are right, I need to walk a mile in their shoes, I'm slipping my sneaks off now.....

[Milo B]

01:43 PM on 12/16/2011

Of course you wouldn't...you must be one of them there awesome christians...I think it was Jesus who said- "F the little ones if they have had the audacity of being born to a single mother"...thank you for your service and remembering WWJD in this most joyous of seasons...

[timmyheather]

02:12 PM on 12/16/2011

I had to laugh... this is a great smart a** response! I pretty much fanned everyone in this conversation, which is kinda cool.

[msmanatee]

02:12 PM on 12/16/2011

Thank you for your reply to that judgemental ahol*! I want to just smack him upside his head.

[whoknew---]

12:39 PM on 12/16/2011

Dear Santa---

Please provide for these parents---

1. Affordable Education

2. Good working wage jobs that enrich their lives

3. Affordable Healthcare

4. Homes in safe, healthy, nurturing neighborhoods

5. All the love, patience, strength, vigilance, humor, plus a resourceful mind to raise your children

Best Wishes to All---

[seeksthetruth]

12:10 PM on 12/16/2011

Nearly half of Americans are in poverty or low-income thanks to decades of GOP policies that concentrate wealth and power among the very few. And Republicans can't figure out why OWS exists.

[mlaiuppa]

11:10 AM on 12/16/2011

Dear Santa. I'd like to be able to retire before my parents die.

[Pagoas]

11:03 AM on 12/16/2011

its heartbreaking how much of our childrens' futures that the republicans have sold off, rented out, and outright destroyed.

[RCnDC]

11:03 AM on 12/16/2011

If you really want to help people, go to your local Kmart and Target and anonymously pay off peoples' layaway purchases..

[Susan Bosworth]

11:07 AM on 12/16/2011

That is a wonderful idea. :-)

[raynaysride]

11:15 AM on 12/16/2011

I read or heard that someone did do that; Bravo; there are people who still care

[fredimessina]

11:00 AM on 12/16/2011

It breaks my heart that there are children who don't get to have one day to believe in something as magical. If you can help, you should.

[raynaysride]

10:45 AM on 12/16/2011

Years ago, when I was raising my boys after a second divorce, we were having a discussion at my job about what we were getting our children for Christmas; I said, hopefully another month's rent so my children have a place to wake up in on Christmas morning, one of the lady's I worked with at that time came in to work a few nites later w/a care package & some gifts that my children would be able to open on Christmas morning; Liz, I will FOREVER be greatful to you, thank you; EVERY year I do my best to make some contribution somewhere to help others w/her in mind

[goijra]

12:46 PM on 12/16/2011

That is a legacy we should ALL strive for.

[ChrisCollins1296]

09:35 AM on 12/16/2011

I have done something similar, having once delivered unexpected Christmas gifts to poor families in our neighborhood. Just seeing the expressions of surprise and joy on the kids' faces was enough but, to see the genuine joy the parents experienced by proxy was truly amazing. I would consider participating in Operation Santa and I hope others will, too.

BTW, an editorial note to the author of the piece: the term "heart-wrenching", like so many other common mistakes of syntax, sounds like it fits when, in actuality, it does not. The correct term is "heart-rending".

[mlaiuppa]

11:09 AM on 12/16/2011

I suppose it depends on whether the heart is being torn in half, torn from your body or twisted. All pretty painful.

[Mouse718]

09:03 AM on 12/16/2011

Asking for clothing, shoes, and schools supplies is one thing (if they asking for those they ARE truly in need), and most of those letters are asking for those, but asking for an iPad and a skateboard??

[Renshai]

11:48 AM on 12/16/2011

Many children do not have a firm grasp of the concept of costs and money and just ask for what they would like based on what their friends have or what looks cool.

[msmanatee]

02:17 PM on 12/16/2011

What kid doesn't want an iPad or a skateboard? But they are poor, so shame on them (you'll get nothing and like it).

And maybe they want a skatebaord more than socks....

Judgers and hater's are becoming one in the same in my book.

[Mouse718]

10:05 AM on 12/17/2011

Anybody who wants to buy a stranger a iPad and a skateboard is free to do so, I'm just saying that most people aren't going to do that. Clothes, shoes, pencils and a notebook are fundamentally different on the level of "needs" than an iPad and a skateboard.

[Gringostan]

08:59 AM on 12/16/2011

Dear Santa,
I want health care for all...
P.S. The carrots are for Rudolf.

[frank day]

08:46 AM on 12/16/2011

It must be incredibly painful and depressing to be a parent who is

unable to provide a Christmas gift to their child.

Bless All of you who Give to those in need.

[raynaysride]

06:44 AM on 12/17/2011

It is the most humiliating experience not to be able to give anything to your children on Christmas; but by the Grace of God I had someone come into my life when my children were younger & make that Christmas one of the best I've ever had; Her name is Liz, & as I posted before I will FOREVER be greatful to her for making one of the MOST difficult Christmas' I've had to live through a little brighter for my children, who are now grown men with families of their own; They were taught to give back & each one of them does