As I write this, there are 26 days left until Christmas. There are even fewer days left in which to write a letter to Santa and expect a reply. Farmers, take note.
Canada Post is in its 28th year of a volunteer initiative to reply to Santa letters, provided they have a return address and are sent to the jolly old elf at North Pole, HOH OHO. As of this posting, there are only 17 days left for kids to send their letters if they want a reply.
Read Also
Agriculture needs to prepare for government spending cuts
As government makes necessary cuts to spending, what can be reduced or restructured in the budgets for agriculture?
But, in keeping with modern times, children can also e-mail Santa, who is apparently as whizzy with the internet as the next guy. So are his elves. I know this because I e-mailed Santa just last week — only to test the Canada Post service, of course — and got an immediate response from elf Pepper Mintstix.
“No matter how busy Santa gets at the North Pole, I know he takes time to read all of his letters! You can expect to get an answer from Santa within the next few days,” wrote Mintstix. That was on Nov. 22 but I still have not heard from Santa. Maybe Mintstix has special radar that separates adult messages from kids’ messages. That would be in keeping with the magic of Santa, don’t you think?
Santa Claus letters became top of mind after I read an American Press story that said the U.S. Postal Service was dropping its Santa reply service operated out of North Pole, Alaska, after 55 years of activity. As in Canada, postal volunteers run the program.
However, last year an Operation Santa volunteer was discovered to be a registered sex offender, and the result was a tightening of the rules, AP reported. Those rules limit access to children’s’ names and addresses. It’s the addressing issue that is the stumbling block for North Pole. Its small size and low manpower apparently prevent it from jumping through the necessary regulatory hoops. However, Santa letters from American kids will still be answered from elsewhere, sans authentic North Pole postmark.
It is heartwarming that volunteers across North American take the time to reply to children’s letters to Santa. But I can’t help wondering if the expectation of a reply is part of today’s demand for instant gratification.
What would be wrong with a child writing a letter to Santa, entrusting it to a parent, and being secure in the belief that it would reach the right place? I think that’s how we used to do it.
