Create some slides to accompany this talk – e.g. a picture of the wise men, their gifts, the letter from Mabel and a crib scene to finish with.

Christmas has a lot about gifts in it. There is the story we have heard from the Bible about the wise men – what gifts did they bring?

And so we give gifts and that means you have to think about what you are going to get for various people and do your shopping. Has anyone done all theirs?

It also means, probably, that you have a list of things that you want to get yourself. And maybe you have already written your Santa letter. Who knows what they want for Christmas? Have you written that in a letter?

Now, when I was your age, nearly everyone had a real fire in their house and so when you wrote your letter to Santa you put it up the lum and the draught and hot air of the fire took it upwards and floated away to the North Pole. Kind of like Harry Potter in reverse!

Where do people post letters to Santa now?

I came across a rather nice story about a wee girl who lived a long time ago in 1911, her name was Mabel and if she was still alive today she would be 108. This story was reported in the papers a few years ago because in 1996 a letter to Santa Claus fluttered down a chimney 85 years after it was posted. She had written out a beautiful letter on four pages of an exercise book and put it up the chimney of her bedroom. But it got stuck in a little nook and there is stayed for 85 years gathering dust and bits of sticks from jackdaws nests. It was singed in one place but otherwise intact. The letter only came to light because the chimney was cleaned and the letter dropped out.

Here is what it said. (Show slide of letter)

Dear Santa Claus,


Last year you brought me many nice presents and I think you were very kind indeed. I expect you would like to know what I should like you to bring me this year. Well, I should like you to bring me a storybook, a postcard album, and a box of chocolates. We have a little baby and we would like you to bring her a rattle that will blow. I hope you will remember the very poor children in the slums and large towns. I might stay awake for some time to see you come in our bedroom to put the things in my stocking the night you come.

Our house is on the common.


With much love, I remain your little friend, Mabel.

It is written in a different style from what we would use today and some of the words might be strange to you. But it really catches the spirit of Christmas.

Notice that the presents she asks for are much simpler than we would have today. We get so grabby and materialistic nowadays that sometimes we forget that it is not all about us!

There is a nice thank you – an appreciation of Santa. We are very good at asking for things, but we are not so good at saying thank you for what we get. But here, Mabel has not forgotten what she got last year and she doesn’t assume but thinks Santa might like to know what to bring this year.

She remembers others too and that is so important. Do you know what slums are? There were many people in this country living in terrible houses then and Mabel was thinking of them. We know about places all over the world today and we know that there are people who go without food and proper houses, schools, medicine and so on. And Christmas is a time to think, not just of what we can get for ourselves, but what we can give. What can we support?

She ends with a nice thought for Santa – again, she is not thinking just of herself, but of him and thinking how she can make his day a bit brighter. Often, at Christmas, we forget these nice things, but it is called the season of goodwill sometimes, but the season of good will can last all year round. We can think of others, encourage them, cheer them up.

And all this because of the great gift we celebrate – God’s gift to us. Jesus came from Heaven to tell us of God’s love for us, to show us how to live. He said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. At Christmas time you might be thinking of what you are going to ‘get’ but Jesus taught that we should focus not on what we can get, but on what we can give, to help others.