New Info About FOX Special "Dear Santa"

As we've reported on various occasions this month, Clay will be appearing on a new mini-reality-Christmas-series called Dear Santa.

The New York Daily news offered us some more information on the show today.

Fox plays Santa with new Christmas special

Snow, rain, heat or gloom of night may be no match for the courageous couriers of the U.S. Postal Service, but lack of a zip code is.
So every year thousands of "Dear Santa" dispatches addressed to the "North Pole" end up in the Dead Letter Office.

This holiday season, the Postal Service teams up with Fox to make wishes come true for little letter writers. "Dear Santa," premiering Dec. 9 at 8 p.m., answers some of the more altruistic "All I want for Christmas letters."

"The whole spirit of Christmas is giving," said executive producer Robert Riesenberg, "so we were looking for stories and letters that were selfless, No. 1, and where the kids were asking to help others and not themselves - and there were a lot of those."

For instance, Hannah, 10, writes that she wouldn't mind meeting Hilary Duff, but what she really wants is to make the holiday special for sick kids. Anika, 7, wants her dad, who is fighting the war in Iraq, home for Christmas. Anastasia, 7, dreams of being a doctor, but her family's dire economic straits makes paying for higher education a long shot.

Hannah does get to meet Duff - at a party for the kids at Shriners hospital in Chicago. Anika's dad is given a holiday leave and a party on a Seattle Army base complete with a live performance by Clay Aiken. And Anastasia is awarded a college scholarship and a surprise visit from "That's So Raven" star Raven Simone.

There will be a companion CD featuring new and classic holiday tunes from Alicia Keys, Nick Lachey and "American Idol" finalist and erstwhile postal employee Vonzell Solomon.

The goal, said Riesenberg, is to make "Dear Santa" an annual television offering. "I think my whole life I always felt bad for the [kids] who wrote those letters," said Riesenberg. "This is one of those pull- at-your-heart-string stories that was perfect for the holidays."