Nothing says Christmas like a backward S.

Unfortunately modern technology hasn&8217;t caught up with the mind of a 5-year-old &8212; my keyboard won&8217;t let me spell &8220;Santa&8221; with the letter turned the way it should be turned this time of year.

But rest assured, Santa reads the &8220;S&8221; either way.

The best letters to Santa come riddled with errors. S and B are tricky letters, and sometimes they just won&8217;t turn the right way.

Grammar isn&8217;t important. And you don&8217;t have to spell Nintendo right to get one.

Specifics can be helpful though. Trust me, I know.

In the mid-80s the coolest commercial on Nickelodeon featured racing lines of colored dominoes falling one after the other, over the bridge, up the staircase where they kicked a ball through a maze, around the coffee table&8217;s leg, under the bridge and to the grand finale &8212; a rocket launch.

Domino Rally came with some loose dominos that you had to set up yourself, but most of the multi-colored pieces were attached to strips of plastic. A tilt of the wrist and they were automatically set up.

I had to have it.

I can&8217;t remember the exact wording of my request to Santa, but I failed somehow.

Christmas morning brought stacks of wrapped and unwrapped presents under the tree. (I&8217;m the only child and have always racked up.)

I don&8217;t remember what I got that year. But I do remember what I didn&8217;t get.

Among the presents were dominoes, mind you &8212; the black and white version. I got dominoes with the dots, the kind you neatly arrange, flat on their backs, after doing more mental math than I&8217;ve ever wanted to do.

Santa didn&8217;t understand.

Maybe it was that first exposure to the importance of good communication that sent me on the career path I chose.

Maybe that letter to Santa is the reason I now re-read every e-mail before hitting &8220;send.&8221;

Regardless, I now have a lesson to share with countless other children &8212; be specific.

We are only 26 days from Christmas, and it&8217;s time to start working on your Santa letters.

Though our postal service is full of hard workers, it&8217;s always a good idea to send your letter to Santa through multiple outlets. That&8217;s where your trusty community newspaper comes in.

Children, send us your letters and we&8217;ll publish them in a special section, which will come out on Christmas Eve. (Don&8217;t worry, we&8217;ll forward your wish list to Santa well before then so he&8217;ll have time to fill the order.)

You can handwrite or type letters and get your parents or teachers to drop them by our office at 503 N. Canal St., or send an e-mail to

santa@natchezdemocrat.com

.

It&8217;s a good idea to let your parents read your letter before you send it, but tell them not to worry about correcting your spelling or adding commas.

We&8217;ll need your letters by Dec. 11 in order to get them to Santa on time.

Oh, and Santa&8217;s pretty good about correcting his past mistakes. After a full year of whining and moaning to my parents about Domino Rally, Santa got it right the next year.

And it was everything I&8217;d hoped for.

Julie Finley

is the managing editor of The Natchez Democrat. She can be reached at 601-445-3551 or

julie.finley@natchezdemocrat.com

.