Voice Over IP company (for the uninitiated, that's "phone calls through your Internet connection") Vonage is offering free phone calls to Santa, as long as you call St. Nick from one of their lines.
Vonage is bringing Santa to life for its customers once again with its annual 1-700-CALLSANTA program. Moms and Dads can help their children call and leave a message for Santa, and the recorded message will be sent to their e-mail address so they know exactly what their child asked Jolly Old St. Nick to bring them. Additionally, for ten randomly selected children, Vonage will grant their special Christmas wish, delivering a toy from their list in Santa’s name.
So I guess the idea is that your kids tell "Santa" what they want and then you buy it for them. Plus a few lucky tots will get one of their wishes for free. (Actually, that sounds more like a gift for the parents in this economy.)
But wait! There's more! If you call after 5pm on December 24th, "your children will hear Santa share the tales of his journey as he delivers toys around the world." So Vonage will help parents shop for their children, and also aid them in perpetuating the illusion that an obese but jolly man flies around every year in a reindeer-powered sleigh to deliver toys to boys and girls worldwide – provided they behave themselves. (I kid. And for the record, I actually believed in Santa for a while despite being Jewish. But it's fun to be Grinchy sometimes.)
Full disclosure: I'm a Vonage customer; I like the service a lot, and recommend it to anyone who asks. There are some little quirks here and there but the price and feature-set more than make up for that. And it's not like my landline phone is perfect.
Back to the point: I think I would have preferred if Vonage had offered to buy something for children in need instead of making it a contest, or donated a dollar for every call made to "Santa" to Unicef or some other worthy organization.
I also wonder if a phone is better than writing a letter to Santa. Don't kids have enough incentives to use electronic means to communicate? If I were raising Santa-believers (I'm not) I think I would prefer that they communicate their heart's desires/greedy toy wishes to Chris Cringle using the good old United States Postal Service.
Of course, as sins of the season go, this one is far lower on the list than matching outfits on the family Holiday card. And probably even lower than sending a Chanukah card with a big ol' fir tree on the front. So if you've got a kid, and Vonage service, give Santa a call. You might even get one of their gifts for free.
Source: Vonage
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