Free Service lets children call Santa Claus directly

One of the more curious aspects of the Christmas celebration is the custom of telling children their gifts come from Santa Claus. Apart from setting the precedent of telling mistruths to one’s loved ones at a time when they are establishing their value systems, setting up an inevitable and, for some, quite fundamental disillusionment (school children can be so cruel), the premise of a Santa wishlist indicates that Christmas is about receiving rather than its true message which is about giving. All that said, many parents still encourage their children to do the “Santa, I want one of these, and one of these, and …” letter and now there’s a service which enables children to connect to Santa and do it all via telephone. Remarkably, the service then sends the message in .WAV format via email to said child's parents so they can save it forever along with other keepsakes, and even more remarkably it’s FREE. How can such a service be free of charge? That’s the really clever bit. The company that built the system offers a business service of a similar ilk that enables any company to have a virtual presence and phone number in any country. Telsanta is just a clever way of helping you find out about them - give that marketing man a medal!

The free service, powered by TollFreeForwarding.com, uses Voicemail2myEmail technology to capture messages and deliver them by e-mail to anyone who signs up for the service. Children call a toll-free number and listen to a message from Santa. He will ask them to record their wish list. Moments after the child leaves his or her voice wish list, the message is delivered by e-mail to Mom or Dad with a .wav file of their child's wish list, in their child's voice.

Parents must register for the free service ahead of time so that the system knows where to deliver the voice recorded wish list. The interface gives parents the option of having their children's voice wish list sent simultaneously to their spouses or partners, grandparents or siblings -- anyone who has an e-mail address.

TelSanta.com does not save the children's messages. The system works just like voicemail, but the message is immediately sent by e-mail instead of residing on a phone service provider's system.

Launched in 2002 and based in California, TollFreeForwarding.com provides business and individuals around the globe with a link to customers, colleagues and loved ones with virtual phone numbers in more than 50 countries, international call forwarding, Voicemail2myEmail, Fax2myEmail and more.