I did not get what I wanted for Christmas.

You promised. I ask for the same thing every year.

Why didn’t I get what I wanted this time?

I got it other times. It’s not fair to give me what I want one year and not the next.

It’s mean!

I didn’t like the rubber ducky or the bag of buckeyes.

I wanted what I wanted.

I didn’t ask for the duck or the nuts so why’d you leave them?

Boy, if I’d known I’d be left with a duck and a bunch of ol’ buckeyes I’d never have left the milk and cookies by the tree.

You got some nerve not delivering what I wanted and eating my milk and cookies.

I know lots of boys and girls who wanted the same thing I did.

Everybody in my neighborhood is complaining about not getting theirs either.

Thanks to you all us kids are going to have a horrible new year.

I hope you get sick from eating all those cookies and not giving us what we asked for. It’s the same every Christmas. Our wish never changes.

You know what we wanted under the tree this year and you know it will be the same next year and the year after that.

If you can’t make the wishes of children come true then you’re just a mean ol’ man!

You know what?

You ought to be glad we ask for the same thing every Christmas.

It’s easy to remember and you don’t even have to write it down.

You just got to do a better job of making our Christmas wishes come true.

We don’t want any ducks or any other stuffed animals.

No tigers, wolverines, bulldogs, gators, bears, pigs, horned frogs, wildcats, longhorns or badgers.

And no action figures either. No mountaineers, trojans, spartans, cowboys, cavaliers, boilermakers, red raiders, cornhuskers or volunteers.

And definitely don’t leave buckeyes or other nuts. Me, I’d rather have coal in my stocking or a bunch of switches than a bunch of ol’ buckeyes.

I don’t mean to sound bratty, Saint Nick, but you’ve got to give us what you promised.

Well, I know you didn’t promise to give us what we want every year but we are children after all.

We’ve come to expect it so it’s your fault. If you can’t deliver, all I’m saying is maybe the tooth fairy or Easter Bunny can. Know what I mean?

Bob Morgan is a retired, award-winning journalist and author.