An enduring delight for young children at Christmas is the prospect of Santa Claus arriving on the roof of the house with his reindeer and sleigh, descending down the chimney and leaving gifts under the Christmas tree.

In their wisdom, adults have rather tainted this simple childhood pleasure by imposing such ideas as having to earn a visit from Santa Claus through good behavior. A a result, many children crave reassurances that Santa has passed a favorable judgment on how they have behaved through the year, and so they can rely on him making the much awaited visit to their homes.

Uncertainty and doubt are worrisome feelings, and come December it is getting a little late for kids to do much about their behavior record.

A rather nice thing to happen shortly before the Christmas rush begins in earnest is for children to receive a letter from Santa providing some reassurance that all is well, and that their home has been scheduled into the Christmas Eve travels of Santa and his sleigh. The letter should leave the child feeling filled with positive expectations.

This has several advantages for parents as well. Watching the positive expectations and a growing sense of excitement on the part of the child as Christmas Eve approaches is one of satisfactions and joys of being a parent.

Perhaps nearly as important is the prospect of having to deal with that plate of cookies and, if you play your cards right, something more interesting than milk, that will be enthusiastically prepared and laid out by the child in anticipation of Santa needing refreshments during his visit.

One of the great mysteries of life is how Santa manages to successfully navigate his sleigh and climb down the next chimney after so many refreshment stops.

Arranging for your child to receive a letter from Santa is not too difficult. The author of the Lord of The Rings books, J R R Tolkein, is said to have written and arranged his own Father Christmas letters for his family. You do run the risk of having your writing recognised though, so don't try this yourself unless you can take the time to do it as well and thoroughly as he did.

These days the postal services in many countries offer some kind of Santa letter service. However, a small expense to arrange a personally addressed letter from Santa has a much bigger impact than some mass produced mail out.