What Do Kids Want for Christmas? Everything!
Christmas lists from young Chicoans are coming into Santa
Claus' workshop by the bagful, and sampling indicates Santa might do well to study Saturday morning television cartoons.
Most popular items this year seem to be walkie-talkie sets for boys and “Baby Alive” for girls, with such old favorites as electric trains and bicycles running a close second.
Also popular are army toys, “Barbie” accessories, records, record players and tape recorders.
Through the good services of the U.S. Postal service all Christmas letters reach the North Pole, though addresses range from an exact “Santa Claus, P.O. Box 11, North Pole,” to “Santa Claus, Earth.”
Perhaps working on the theory that creativity counts, many letters are adorned with art work, renditions of Santa and his reindeer the most young popular subjects. Most youngsters ask after the health of Santa and Mrs. Claus and are also solicitous of the welfare of Rudolph.
Some children, exhibiting a great deal of trust in Santa's judgement, merely say what they would like to find under the Christmas morning, others go to great lengths to specify exactly which brand and model they want.
One request for a bicycle included the notation that the correct machine could be found at a particular store in Sacramento; another young lady neatly listed a total of 39 items, ranging from a play kitchen and beauty salon to a gardening set to a “tipe writer.”
One budding soldier requested a complete army outfit, adding he would like a sword, “if you think that is O.K.” …
There were a few request for Donny Osmond records and posters and several letters also mentioned something described by one child as “kangarooses that pouch each other.”
Most meticulous of all was a young lady who clipped pages from a toy catalog showing her Christmas wishes. Her “letter” to Santa resembled a mailed edition of the New York Times.
Few letters fail to mention that the writer has been a good boy or good year all long, something that might come as a surprise to many parents.
One very honest young man asked Santa to decide if he had been good this year. …
— Enterprise-Record, Dec. 19, 1973