SAD SANTA: If Santa only knew about...

SAD SANTA: If Santa only knew about Alicia. The girl was one of thousands who penned letters to Santa that wound up at the Van Nuys Post Office. But Alicia included no return address. . . . “Please send me a mommie and daddy that don’t hit me all the time,” she wrote. On Page B2 today: many more letters.

SEEING GREEN: The Menendez brothers’ murder trial recessed for the holidays with younger brother Erik on the stand. His vivid imagination shone through during an exchange with lead prosecutor David Conn. Conn’s question: Did Erik think his mom was a witch? . . . “What do you mean by a witch?” Erik replied. “When you say a witch, I picture a green-faced lady on a broom. I picture boiling something.”

BOILING MAD: Menendez I prosecutor, Pam Bozanich, meanwhile, has formally complained about being denied overtime by her then-supervisor Bill Hodgman. He, Marcia Clark and Chris Darden got bonuses for the O.J. Simpson case. The rank and file, still steaming over this, will hold a vote of “no confidence” on boss Gil Garcetti next month. So says the latest D.A. newsletter, put out by Van Nuys deputy Herb Lapin. Garcetti had no comment on Bozanich.

WORSHIP: An ancient church is having a membership renaissance in the Valley, thanks to an influx of Christian Egyptians to the area. It’s the Coptic Orthodox Church, founded in the 1st Century. (B1).

QUICK HIT: It took a 45-minute stakeout and an inopportune call of nature to nab several Santa Clarita thieves. A sheriff’s detective had staked out a park-and-ride lot because of car thefts. He became suspicious when a man got out of a car and relieved himself. That took time--enough time to call for backup. In less than five minutes, the man and others broke into two cars, but were caught in the act.