Just ask 5-year-old boys and girls and they’ll tell you no wish is too big for Santa Claus.

With that thought in mind, we’re sending out some really big wishes to Santa in the hope he’ll fulfill them.

• The recession has been tough on Hartselle just as it has on hundreds of other communities across the nation. We’ve experienced factory shutdowns, job losses and watched retail businesses slowly die. Our economy needs a transfusion, Santa. Will you please bring us a big dose of consumer confidence, a new industry with 100 jobs and two or three more retail businesses to fill market gaps?

• In the event you’ve been too busy to notice Santa, 2012 is an election year. As voters we’ll be making decisions on school board members, municipal leaders, county officials and the President of the U.S. We’d like for you to bring us candidates with squeaky clean slates…no ghosts in the closet, no vested interests, no personal agendas, please.

• Hartselle High School’s state championship in football ranks as one of the school‘s all-time great sports feats. While the buzz of excitement is still going strong, we’re hoping for even bigger and better things to come. Santa, would you be so kind as to bring us another blue trophy in girl‘s golf as well as basketball, baseball and softball.

• We recognize that not everyone will be able to spend Christmas Day at home with their families. Many of our police officers and fire fighters will be on duty as usual. The same goes for our fighting men and women who are serving in Afghanistan and other faraway places. Santa, a gift, a letter, an email or a telephone from their families and friends would do wonders to lift their spirits and let them know that folks back home are supporting them and praying for their safe return.

• Last but not least Santa, we’d like to ask for peace around the world.