Each year, The Star-News prints a special edition called “Letters to Santa.”

Inside is exactly what one would expect – letters filled with longing for Nintendo games and four-wheelers, Barbies and Tonka toys and everything in between.

They are very cute, and we do our utmost best to decipher every single handwritten note. Quite often it takes a group of six or more to figure out some of these requests. You see, I speak girl. I know that “pnces’ is kindergartener for “princess.” I don’t speak boy.

Anyway…

Sometimes, they include requests for things you’d never guess.

One year, I got one that asked Santa to make a little girl’s aunt all better because she had the “C” word.

Another year, I got one that asked Santa to get a little girl’s daddy out of jail. I didn’t print that one.

I am happy to report that up to this point, we have not had anyone asking the big jolly guy to mount a prison break or bargain with the man upstairs.

The funniest one we’ve gotten was from a boy who asked for a snake. No DS games; no iPod; and no Hot Wheels. Just a snake. Lord, help that momma.

The sweetest that I’ve seen to date (and believe me, we are not anywhere near the end of typing these letters) is one from Gavin who asks that Santa gives presents to the people who don’t have any. His only materialistic request – a baseball bat.

Thus far, the strangest one I’ve seen is from a little boy named Ethan from Straughn who is asking for new knives, 243 bullets and nozler (whatever that means) ballistic tips 70 grain. I know this child’s mother. I’m pretty sure he won’t be getting anything on that list.

It was with some amusement that I picked up the letters from my middle child’s first grade class. Like any mom, the first thing I did was flip to find out what my girl wanted for Christmas.

She wrote, “Dear Santa, I have been nice.”

Nice?

All the other children wrote they had been “super good” or “really good” or maybe even just “good.” No one said “nice.”

She had one request on her list – a game.

Let’s just say right now, that even though there are no presents under the tree (remember she is the one who said I needed to get on the ball in that regard), I am golden.

The youngest one, who is in kindergarten, asked for a “kitar.”

It took me two weeks to figure out she wasn’t asking for Qatar, the oil-rich Middle Eastern country.

I’ll be interested to see how she describes her past year’s actions. It should read, “Dear Santa, I fight with my sisters bad, but I always say “sorry” when my momma tells me to.”

She does, and she will get her that guitar she wants.

But by gosh, it’s not going under that tree until Christmas Eve.