TAKEAWAY: With only six days to go before Santa makes his grand entrance, I am writing my letter to him here. Hope I get my wishes for Christmas 2011!
Image from northpolesecretary.com
My grandchildren reminded me yesterday that it’s only 6 days until Christmas.
Funny how children, no matter how young, quickly get into the spirit of the season, dreaming up stories and listing in detail everything they want. As it was a double birthday party Sunday afternoon for my grandson Danny and my granddaughter Angelina, I had a chance to be present as their first grade classmates sat around the table to enjoy blue cupcakes, pizza and conversation.
The conversation, in case you wondered, centered around those lists they all hope Santa Claus will read and respond positively to. Nothing new here for anyone who has been around kids at all. But what truly caught my ear was the constant references to such items as iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and the ease with which these 7 year olds discussed their favorite apps, and how so many of them expected an iPad——which is a rather extensive “toy” as you all know. Whatever happened to trains, Barbies, teddy bears, and Lego construction sets?
At one point during the party, my granddaughter Angelina turned to me with her big blue eyes and asked point blank:
“Abo, what do you want Santa to bring you this year?“
“Well, sweetie, I think I have to think about it,“ I told her and her friends, all of whom were looking at me intensely. “I already have the iPhone and the iPad, so it must be something else.“
Which makes me think of a few things I would like—-and none of them from the Apple store. Join me as I jot them down here, in my own letter to Santa:
Dear Santa,
I think I saw you while flying above the clouds from Frankfurt to Miami only Saturday. I bet it was you. In fact, I told the kids at the birthday party about this, and I had their undivided attention, all eyes on me, all ears clinging to my every word. I reminded the first graders that Santa had been watching them closely, to see if they were nutty or nice. But, of course, I am sure that these kids were all nice, and most had their Santa list prepared and in view. Santa, if I were you, I would start lining up outside as many Apple stores as you can get to (try the new one in New York City at Grand Central Station).
My own list is not too long, and I am sure you can make some of these things happen for me, dear Santa. Ok, before you ask me: I think I was good this year, not too nutty, not too impatient, but perhaps too much in a hurry (I promise to improve on that).
As I think of Christmas 2011, I would be happy if you would bring me tons of positive people with whom to interact, and please leave behind all those negative souls who tend to poison the soup and delay good progress. While you are at it, send me interviewers who have challenging questions, and, whatever you do, don’t send me anyone who begins by asking: how did you start in the design business? I have answered that question so many times that it bores me to think about it. Also, please remind those pessimists in every newsroom that print is not going to die anytime soon. Get them a new hobby, will you, Santa? Or a new profession, maybe?
Because you are such a convincing, lovable character, dear Santa, will you please convince the big media houses out there that visual journalism is a key part of what makes a newspaper unique? Can 2012 be the year that we stop even discussing centralized design desks where templates become robotic avatars, dispensing sameness and a generic look for dozens of titles under the same management? Even the convents today are more flexible in allowing nuns to wear what they want, so why should newspapers institutionalize design? Please, please Santa, tell them it isn’t nice to abandon uniqueness for sameness. Remind them that there are a variety of other, less harmful ways, to save a few dollars here or there. Thank you.
One more thing, and I promise this is my last request: While I am thinking of dream wishes that only you, Santa, can make come true: do you think that airports will relax their security regulations for very frequent, tried and true travellers, like myself, and dispense with us taking off our shoes, our jackets and pulling computers out of our carry on bags? As someone who performs that ritual sometimes up to 22 times in a week, i think I have had it. Again, thanks, Santa.
PS: Oh, yes, Santa, just like Angelina, Danny and their friends, I still believe in the magic of you!
TheMarioBlog post #916
