Meet the Edinburgh resident who keeps Santa alive in the capital
Each year Nick Josselin-Mellish keeps Santa alive in Edinburgh, replying to hundreds of children’s Santa letters in his spare time.
And what started as a small project for family and friends during lockdown, later gained popularity online – and now the Saughton resident finds himself writing hundreds of tailored letters each year.
Taking on the role of Santa for the sixth year in a row, parents have told Nick his letters are the only reason their kids still believe in Santa. His free letter writing service has also raised hundreds of pounds for great causes over the years.
Here, Nick tells us all about his Letters From Santa initiative.
Edinburgh’s St Nick
It all started in 2020 when there were fewer opportunities for young children to meet Father Christmas because of the lockdown and people didn't feel particularly safe going to a grotto in a confined space.
I suggested to a couple of friends that since their children wanted to see Santa and were not going to be able to that I would be Santa for them. So when they wrote their letters to Santa, their parents sent them to me and I hand-wrote a letter back – it was just a little thing to do and I thought that would be the end of it.
But then the following year friends asked if I would do it again, and do it for some of their friends too. Eventually I was persuaded to make it a bit larger and put it on Facebook – that’s when I first got requests from people I didn’t know – and a year after that, for whatever reason, it just got big and I wrote over 100 letters.
Last year I did nearly 200 letters and the lovely thing about it was they came from pretty much all over the country. Most are based in Scotland but it has definitely been shared on Facebook groups because I started getting them from Sussex where I grew up, and from places like Manchester, Norfolk, and Leeds.
I've had a couple of people say that the only reason their children still believe in Santa is because they're getting these letters back that know very specific things. They can't work out how someone would know certain details so think it must be Santa. I think it's very difficult to keep believing nowadays, especially with social media so I think if you can have something that sort of keeps it going that's great.
When I was really young, I remember slowly working out that Santa probably wasn't a real thing and I was genuinely devastated. There's something really magical about the idea that someone just once a year is terribly nice to you and gets you something really lovely, there’s something really heartwarming about that.
‘It can be tiring but I wouldn't keep doing it if I didn't enjoy it’
I’ve always loved writing and I used to write pages and pages of stories when I was younger. I also write a children’s story each year, it’s really just for friends, but it goes up on my blog as well. And writing Santa letters for children lets me be creative too – I can make up stories about elves and reindeer getting up to mischief and I try to have a little silly anecdote every year.
I’ve also written to adults with learning difficulties and that's been really nice as well. I like that people feel they can reach out and ask for the letters.
There’s also been a few requests from women asking me to write to their husbands, with Santa saying he was very disappointed that they had a bender the night before their sister-in-law's wedding so try not to be hung over at the next event - they've been fun to do.
Sometimes I can do 20 to 25 letters in a night, but that’s when you really start feeling it in the wrist and you do genuinely have to be careful that you don't injure yourself doing it.
But I usually spend two or three hours after work and I also write over the weekends. It's a lot of work for about six weeks a year and it can be tiring but I wouldn't keep doing it if I didn't enjoy it.
Making a difference
I have a connection with all the charities in some way. The Hamlets charity is a small charity in Norwich and they look after children and young adults with disabilities. I used to work in childcare in Norwich so I saw firsthand the work they did and it was just wonderful.
But all of the charities I’ve chosen for people to donate to are all ones that I have a personal connection with and they're all charities I think are worth people paying attention to. This service is free and always will be, but if people can afford to donate to one of these charities it will go on to help them in some way.