What do kids actually write to Santa about? The things they can’t tell anyone else | CBC News

Calgary Alan Kerr, Santa's 'head elf' and founder of emailsanta.com, receives more than a million letters a year addressed to Santa Claus. Many of them ask for gifts; others turn to Santa for comfort.(Rukhsar Ali/CBC) The website is chock-full of features, like a joke of the day, 'live' Santa webcams and a Christmas countdown.(Rukhsar Ali/CBC) Kerr poses from his home office decked out in Christmas decorations. From here, he manages the website, which he intends to keep going for years to come.(Rukhsar Ali/CBC) Meet the 'head elf' running emailsanta.com for 3 decades Child psychologist says Santa Claus acts as 'safe person' for children Alan Kerr has been operating emailsanta.com for nearly three decades as “Santa’s head elf.” In that time, he’s received millions of letters from children (and adults) from across the world, all addressed to the jolly old man who lives at the North Pole. Kerr says Santa receives 10 emails a second on Christmas Eve - some asking for the latest toys, a new sibling or, in one case, a girlfriend for his dad. (We've sprinkled some examples throughout this article.) The quirky website, run out of Calgary, originated during the 1997 Canada Post strike as a way for children to send letters to Santa digitally, since they couldn’t send them by mail. "... could you please try to find a girlfriend for my dad .... to keep him busy, so he will leave my toys alone ..." Nicholas, 5, Strathmore, Alta. The very next year, Kerr received an email from a nine-year-old girl who said she was upset because she had lost three close family members over the course of the year. “She was reaching out to Santa Claus just for a shoulder ... to cry on or to feel some comfort there,��” he said. “And that's when it really hit me that kids say things to Santa that they will not say to anybody else.” Children write about all kinds of things to Santa, Kerr said. After filling out a form on the website and hitting the "Get a letter from Santa!" button, the sender gets a personalized letter back from him almost instantly - a part of the magic (and coding) of the site. But for sensitive emails that are flagged in the system by certain keywords, Santa likes to “take extra care,” Kerr said, by sending another followup email with resources like helpline numbers. Those more difficult letters range from topics like experiencing bullying or an abusive situation at home to ones that adults might think are more minor, Kerr said, like “my goldfish died.” “With a million letters a year, you're bound to get everything,” he said. “From kids who are quite upset, you know, having nightmares about planes flying into buildings ... [after] 9/11, or else during COVID, worried about their mum who's a nurse ... having to go to work and wearing a mask and working long hours.” To children, he said, even seemingly smaller troubles weigh heavily on their hearts....

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