Hey Virginia, what's the deal?

Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor

It struck us as fundamentally wrong that the Postal Service would no longer accept or deliver letters from kids written to Santa at the North Pole—but we, along with others, reported last night that the program was being halted. Apparently the good folks in North Pole, Alaska (Santa's helpers...the good people of that town who have been volunteering since 1954 to read and answer children's letters) have met to alleviate the crisis, and we will read their response on the air tonight. Believe me, when stories involve Santa (or similar topics), I automatically switch to parent mode—and I try mightily not to ever say anything during Nightly News that I would not have wanted my own young children to hear.  You will often hear me warning viewers of a particularly tough topic—fair warning to hit mute, turn the TV off or escort the kids out of the kitchen—because there's nothing more annoying than getting caught without warning when something awful comes on the television when little ones are in the room.

As I say, we'll re-visit this topic tonight—and hopefully, we'll clear all this up.  As someone who worked long and hard on letters to Santa as a child... and sent them off while trying to picture him reading them—I firmly believe that experience should be available forever.

We hope you can join us tonight!  Have a good weekend, and I'll see you back here on Monday.