Dear Santa,

If you are in need of a truly “feel good” experience and want to know how you too could become a real life “elf”, we’ve got a great movie for you to rent or stream this Christmas.

Dear Santa is a lovely family movie/documentary about the letters children write each year to Santa at Christmas time. Millions of children write to the big guy every year. Many send their letters with the hope that, though their lives may be disappointing in so many other ways, that Santa may read and answer their heartfelt requests.

Operation Santa allows anyone to be able to access the letters children have written and as an honorary elf, make a hopeful child’s dreams come true.

Beautifully written and produced, it is truly a wonderful 1 hour and 24 minutes you can spend this Christmas. In just one of the stories the film tells of a child some years ago living with his single mother in low-income housing. DiGrazia is his surname and he and his two siblings were prepared to have “a rough Christmas.” “My mom was trying to make ends meet and also find a way to get some presents for us kids,” he remembered. She told him to write a letter to Santa asking for two things, to give Santa some options.

“The only thing I could think to ask for was either an alarm clock, because I didn’t have one of my own, or a radio because we didn’t have a TV or radio in the house,” said DiGrazia. “When I opened up the present, it was an alarm clock radio. It was exactly what I wanted and I kept it for a really long time.”

The gift left an indelible impression on DiGrazia, who has been paying it forward for the past six years as a volunteer with Operation Santa, the 107-year-old United States Postal Service program that funnels hundreds of thousands of kids’ Santa letters to people looking to fulfill their requests.

Today DiGrazia and his nonprofit Santa’s Knights adopt as many as 400 letters each year, personally shopping for, wrapping and delivering gifts to kids in the New York City area. “It’s an ongoing way to continually have Christmas magic in my life and to relive those childhood moments,” said DiGrazia. “It really is an immeasurable experience to be a part of that machinery. Every year that goes by, I want to help more.”

You can rent this delightful film on Amazon for $5.99. It’s worth every penny and every minute you’ll spend. Make sure you have tissues handy….you WILL need them, guaranteed. Do yourself a favor and rent this delightful movie. You might just decide that you are being called to be an “elf” yourself this year.

P.S. In the interest of full disclosure, and because we’re very proud of her, I should tell you our chum and my cousin, Chelsea Matter, produced this lovely film.