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As a father, I’ve been trying to figure out how to solve the Santa Claus conundrum this year. I want my two-year-old to go see Santa, sit on his lap, and tell him exactly what she wants for Christmas – but how do I do it safely?

Luckily this isn’t my first rodeo. I have a 12-year-old, and back in the day I actually stumbled upon the solution and didn’t even know it. There are a lot of different ways to do it, but through a service called PNP (Portable North Pole) I was able to “contact“ the big man from the north pole and set up a  personalized video for my then 3-year-old-son.  He loved it, and looked forward to every update.

The service has expanded to include tongue-in-cheek messages for teenagers and adults, and it’s free to try. Like everything else if you want to get the deluxe package, it’s going cost you.  That being said, the free service is pretty legit. My son was still getting messages up until two years ago for Christmas and his birthday!

Once again, there are several ways to set this up – but PNP's pretty straightforward. You just enter your child’s name, and a couple of facts like what they’re working on (trying to go potty, telling the truth, etc.) and they throw together a pretty convincing message from Santa Claus to your child.

There will be opportunities for us to see Santa in person, but at best it will be from a distance behind a Plexiglas shield through a fog of disinfectants.  If you do choose to do the in-person thing, this could be a added dimension to the St. Nick mythos your family prescribes to.  You could also use it as a substitute to seeing Santa at the boardwalk, or waiting in line at the mall in order to tell him exactly what you want in person.

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