Suffice to say, I’ve been participating in a Yuletide prank on anywhere from two to six people since 1998.
Good Lord in butter, why did I use a pagan term to discuss Christmas?
I would imagine that’s a completely different discussion about the season which I don’t really want to get into. Instead, let’s talk about one of the shenanigans I’ve been up to for all these years.
One of the perks of Cubeville is a program called Letters From Santa. In essence, participants provide the names and addresses of people (kids, generally) who should receive a letter from Santa a few weeks before Christmas. Essentially, that letter says “Howdy [insert name here]. Gettin’ ready to make the big trip and collecting my list of good kids. I see where you’re at the top. Have the cookies and milk ready, because I’ve visiting you this year.”
Or something like that.
The cool thing is that the letters are postmarked via The North Pole.
When I started work at Cubeville in 1998, I thought it was a pretty darn good idea. Junior was 4, Juniorette was 2, and TharpSter.Org was a five page story composed on an old Apple, stored on a 3.5″ disk, and printed in dot matrix. The kids were young and they absolutely loved getting those letters.
Fourteen years later, Junior is off at college, Juniorette is 16, and TharpSter.Org is considering taking it’s profits this year before the Presidential trebuchet completely gets us over that fiscal cliff.
Nowadays, there are some nephews in the picture which range from age 5 to age 9. Naturally, I have letters sent to them, and they love it.
Did I mention that I still have them sent to Junior and Juniorette too? Yeah, they love that.
Not.
Granted, they didn’t figure out that I was behind it until maybe a year or two ago.
Granted, Junior received his at his dorm this year since he’s away at college.
Oh, by the way.
This year also marks year number 2 in which one additional recipient has made his way on the list of kids I submit. The new kid is 42, and at one point many years ago suggested that maybe the Shriners were behind the whole Santa Claus operation.
I’m not sure he knows who’s behind it all.
Yet.
