DELUDED CUSTODIANS

Santa Picks His Favorite Letter

The Winner of the Deluded Custodians December Writing Contest

Perhaps you’ve been hiding under a Medium-sized rock and are unaware of the “Deluded Custodians” December Writing Prompt and corresponding prize. Santa understands. The winter holidays have a bit more hullabaloo than usual. The North Pole shuts down on New Year’s Eve, and we take things slow until Christmas in July.

December started with a prompt by Ann “Christmas Flannel Jammies” James, worth twenty dollars of cold hard Venmo/Paypal cash.

Then the contest took an unexpected turn towards wholesome with bonus points offered to publish entries with that goodie-two-shoes Mark Suroviec, M.Ed. at Playtown. Santa didn’t mind. He knows how to play nice in front of the kiddos and keep his money out of the sweary jar.

So, Old St. Nick read all thirty-seven entries in the busiest season of the year. And for gumdrops and giggles, a few more letters by writers unaware of the contest. Before you get your garland in a tangle, don’t worry, only authors who tagged Ann and followed the contest requirements were eligible for the prize. But seriously, wow, Santa is overwhelmed with the love and support from all of you.

Except for Victor Cardenas, who thinks Santa is a mob boss violating the rights of the proletariat. Come on, Victor, none of the reindeer pooped in your hot cocoa.

This year 😉

Twas the day after New Year’s

And Santa was tired.

Ann said, “Pick a winner,”

Or Santa gets fired.

How could I choose between

Christine or Kristen?

Shereen, Sam, and Susan,

or Grandma’s Metaphorical Fisticuffs in?

Brandon’s vacuum de robot,

and Uvebruce’s apps for a partner,

or between Deb and Patrick,

who used their dogs to try harder.

Adam was nun silly,

and TzeLin was quite sweet.

Scarlet was grateful,

Cristina, a last-minute treat.

Debdutta thinks Santa’s for sale.

And Robert’s orange beverage went a bit stale.

Ryan thinks Santa hangs out with the devil and Jesus.

But Ole’ St. Nick rolls with whoever he pleases.

Now Santa must select among thirty-seven stories,

by twenty-one different authors.

What a challenging task,

Wish my Nice List was smaller.

Yet, there was one letter,

that captured the magic of Christmas,

the innocence of children,

and my love of the Mrs.

He wrote it to Wifey,

asked Mrs. Claus questions a million,

sang me a silly song,

and drew art for my kitchen.

Who is this writer

with Xmas joy of a spaniel?

December’s winner is THE CREATIVITY DOCTOR,

who signs his name “Daniel”.

Santa is grateful for all the letters. I collected them in a list here and will respond to more after my post-Christmastime winddown. For fun, Santa also included stories by Adda Maria, David Martin, Nick Struutinsky, and Grace Bianco, who wrote to me but were not officially entered into the contest.

The Deluded Custodians January prompt.