A large red mailbox stands in Coletti-Magni Park, at the corner of Watertown and Bridge Streets. Its flap sits low enough for the smallest letter writers. Every letter to Santa that goes in gets an answer, written by a group of volunteers led by Linda Anderson. As of last December they had kept that up for 58 years, as Fig City News reported. The same mailbox takes donations for the Nonantum Children's Christmas Party Association.
The mailbox shows how the whole season works. The 18-foot Santa, the caroling and the parade are the parts of Nonantum's December that the rest of Newton comes to see. Behind them is a family-run charity, and it still works from a list of families its founder started keeping.
The 2026 dates, and one that moved
The association has posted its 2026 schedule on nonantumccpa.org.
| Event | Date | Time | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coletti-Magni Park Lighting | Sunday, Dec. 6 | Hot chocolate and caroling at 6:15 p.m.; lights on at 7 p.m. | 391 Watertown Street |
| Nonantum Christmas Parade | Sunday, Dec. 13 | Steps off at 12 p.m. | Route on nonantumccpa.org |
| Dan Fontaine & Memphis Sun Mafia: A Vegas Christmas | Sunday, Dec. 20 | Tickets through the association site | See nonantumccpa.org |
The parade date is the one to note. In 2025, Patch listed the parade for Sunday, Dec. 21, the last weekend before Christmas. This year it falls eight days earlier, on Dec. 13, one week after the lighting. That puts the two biggest events on back-to-back Sundays, with the Vegas Christmas show on the third. The association's homepage carries the latest on the parade and on show tickets.
The name is older than anything on the calendar
The association has kept a name that no longer describes what it does. According to the Newton Beacon, Anthony "Fat" Pellegrini Sr. founded it in 1954 with a group of friends. For decades it threw a real children's party. Santa flew in by helicopter, first to Our Lady Help of Christians and later to American Legion Post 440. Once the party moved to the Post, children lined up in Our Lady's parking lot to fly over to it. In those early years, the association and the St. Mary of Carmen Society raised enough money for 2,000 bags of toys for local children, each chosen for the child's age.
The Beacon reports that the party ended in 1992. His son, Anthony Pellegrini Jr., told the paper that his father was "the cog in the wheel" and that no one else could put on a party the way he did.
When the party ended, the association kept its name and its purpose. Pellegrini Sr. died in 2004, and his children took over. Anthony Jr. now chairs the association, and his sister Linda Anderson runs the letter-writing volunteers. A third generation of the family helps as well. Fig City News credits the elder Pellegrini with the rule that Santa answers every letter.
The list
The giving is what kept going after 1992. Each December the association hands out gift cards and food baskets, and the list of recipients reaches well past the village. Here is how Pellegrini Jr. described it to the Newton Beacon:
"My father had a list, and I'm still going by the list. So we give out a couple hundred gift baskets, and we have a list from not just Nonantum, but from Watertown, Newton Corner, the (Newton) Falls, throughout the area."
Fig City News adds that the association prepares special holiday food baskets for neighborhood widows and veterans. The Newton Beacon has also reported on the association's gifts to veterans, seniors and families in need. Pellegrini Jr. summed up the approach to the Beacon this way: "We're always there at anybody's beck and call."
The red mailbox in the park, where children leave their letters to Santa, also collects donations for the association that hands out those baskets.
The park is where the work happens
According to the City of Newton's facility listing, Coletti-Magni Park is a small village-center park at 391 Watertown Street and the site of the holiday lighting. The city's heritage documentation gives its full name as the Annino F. Coletti and Robert Magni Memorial Park.
The display has history of its own. The first tree lighting was in 1950, under a 30-foot Santa that weighed two and a half tons. The current Santa is a more modest 18 feet tall and has stood in the park since 1982.
The display goes up long before the switch is flipped. The Beacon reported last year that preparations start right after Halloween, from buying supplies to planning activities. The paper's photos showed the association's truck arriving with volunteers to put up lights. One of those volunteers, Arrianna Proia, has helped "Uncle Fatty" decorate the park her whole life. She told the Beacon it is "a good way for us to connect with our neighbors and also honor the traditions that have been going on for over 50 years."
Decorating the park is a shared job. The St. Mary of Carmen Society started in 1935 as a mutual aid group for immigrant families from San Donato, a village east of Rome. Today it organizes the five-day Festa each July and works with the association to decorate the park and put on the parade. During last year's lighting, the Society was selling Christmas trees just across Bridge Street from the park to fund its charitable work, Fig City News reported.
The tradition may go back further than 1950. Pellegrini Jr. told the Beacon he once found a newspaper from Christmas 1965 that called that year's event the 66th annual Christmas celebration. By his count, that would date Nonantum's group celebrations to around 1899.
Two Sundays at the park
The lighting, Dec. 6. Last year's lighting was on Sunday, Dec. 7. Fig City News counted at least 300 people, plus a number of dogs, on Watertown Street in front of the park. There was dancing, hot chocolate and cookies, and master of ceremonies Frank Battista led the carols. When Santa arrived, played by Daniel Anderson, he took his seat in the sleigh and children crowded around him with their wish lists. This year, caroling starts at 6:15 p.m. and the lights come on at 7.
The parade, Dec. 13. In recent years the parade has finished at the park. The Newton Beacon's 2024 photos showed who marched that year:
- Santa, who stopped at Coletti-Magni Park at the end of the route
- Frosty and Rudolph
- Mickey and Minnie
- Frank Battista, singing carols from a tow truck
In 2025, Patch listed a noon start on West Street, with the parade expected to reach the park around 1:30 p.m. The 2026 parade also steps off at noon. The association's site is the place to check for this year's route.
Takeout on a Saturday. Nonantum Press Room, at 191 Adams Street, opened in March 2025 as a takeout-only shop for panini, sandwiches, soups and salads. Its website lists hours from Tuesday through Saturday, so the day before the parade works better than parade Sunday.
What the letters keep going
Last December, Rebecca Torcasio, a friend of the Pellegrini family, told the Beacon that her grandparents grew up in the neighborhood. Coming back as an adult to help "people who have done this their whole lives," she said, means getting "to know everyone on a different level." On Dec. 6, the mailbox will take both letters and donations, and the volunteers Linda Anderson leads will answer every letter that goes in.
At Teri Adler, we pay attention to the traditions that hold Newton's villages together, and Nonantum's is one of the oldest. If you'd like to talk about the village, the city or what's ahead for your household this winter, Let's Connect.
