Senior Citizens Give Santa Hand With His Mail

The letters were addressed to “Santa Claus, Route 1, Pasadena,” to “Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus and Elves, North Pole, Earth Planet,” and simply to “Santa.”

But all found their way to the recreation room at a Woodland Hills senior citizens center, where 30 gray-haired elves spent Tuesday afternoon responding to 600 children’s letters to St. Nicholas.

And as residents of Owensmouth Gardens sifted through piles of mail from hopeful children, many recalled their own letters to Santa 50, 60 and 70 years ago.

“We asked for everything we thought we could get,” said Ruth Cain, 81, resting her writing hand after an hour of addressing envelopes. “Then we would write another letter for a friend or schoolmate who did not have a chance of getting anything from his family.”

Now, their Christmas lists are considerably shorter. “Good health and peace in the world,” said Ann Snyder, 77. “That’s about all I can say. I think that sums it up, don’t you?”

But at 6 and 7, the fate of the world is secondary to getting at least one of the new toys requested in the letter to Santa. The letters were collected at the Van Nuys post office.

After the Owensmouth Gardens residents finish addressing envelopes and inserting pre-printed replies from Santa, the letters will be mailed with a special postmark.

One girl, Desiree MacLean of Canoga Park, requested “a ball and a doll and four dogs and a dollhouse and a kite and a parrot and a rabbit and a boy Barbie. That it.”

A little boy named Taylor promised to leave “cookies, milk & carrots.” And a toothbrush.

One boy asked simply for “no more wars.”

Another letter was one word: “Skatebaord,” with a drawing that looked like a paramecium on wheels.

In case Santa is strapped for cash during the recession, Phyllis Wiggins of Arcadia noted the price of each item, which she listed, somewhat incompletely, in her Christmas letter: “1. Handheld electronic $13.44. 2. Preschoolers $19.99. 3. Emerson Port $99.99.”

But all Cherie Minitella of Woodland Hills wants is a little proof.

“All my friends say that there is not a Santa,” she wrote. “But I do! . . . . I am writing you this letter because I wanted you to leave me in my stocking an answer. (Mine is the one with two teddy bears.) If you don’t put it in I know there is no Santa.