GorillaOffTopic, Everything But Gorilla Trades

Ahhh, the Gorilla remembers the good ole’ days of being a kid and writing letters to Santa c/o the North Pole. The post office was kind enough to handle these obscurely addressed letters from hundreds (and in some towns, even thousands) of eager kids, and it was all but guaranteed that you would receive a response; hand written by Santa himself, and in plenty of time before Christmas (given of course, that you sent it to him in time!).

But yes, those postal workers had their work cut out for them the good old fashioned way. No computers to help write them either, just a good pen and a lot of patience. (Remember that?) But alas, the world is now a very different place, besieged by a plethora of technologies, none of which requires a whole lot of effort compared to when we were all young.

Kids can now access Santa via various methods. Just think about the options: the whole world is texting these days, so why should Santa be any different?  Well, it turns out he isn’t. Last year Santa emailed and even sent instant messages to kids who wanted to hear from him online. Kids could also go online to track Santa Claus as he made his way in his sleigh around the globe. Kids can still take advantage of all of these options, but now if they want to, they may text Santa as well.

Kids can go to textsanta.net and for a small fee of around $4.95, they can text and receive texts from Santa Claus from now until Christmas Day. (Why is the Gorilla not surprised by this?) And one dollar goes to the March of Dimes so it’s a win-win for parents and their “Santa-hungry” kids. The Gorilla himself even goes online each year to log onto the high-tech Santa tracker to see where Santa is in his sleigh, hour by hour, on Christmas Eve. It is a fun and exciting way to be a kid again for a few minutes (even if it is a far cry from the letter writing of his childhood!).

But far as the texting goes…. well for kids it’s great fun to get a text from the Claus-Meister, but the Gorilla gets enough texts now that he is in the “cell phone zone” once again after years of not having a cell phone. He’ll pass on trying the new Santa Claus texts; at least for this year. But he must admit….the old dude is pretty cool.