08-10-2021, 10:04 PM
1. Santa used to write letters and not receive them.
Santa's letters were originally written as letters to children however, they were also utilized by parents as tools to encourage their children to behave. Fanny Longfellow, the wife of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Longfellow wrote letters to her children every season, providing feedback on their previous year's actions. As gifts became more important in Christmas then this changed, and the letters turned into Christmas lists of wishes. Some parents, however, continued sending letters to their children in Santa's style. J.R.R. could be the most outstanding of these. J.R.R. might be the most famous. Tolkien gave his children nearly 25 years of intricately illustrated updates each Christmas , centered around Father Christmas. The updates included snow elves as well as red gnomes. Check santa claus letter for kids for info.
2. 1.
Before the Post Office Department (as the USPS was known from 1971) came up with a solution to getting Santa letters to their destination children devised some creative ways to ensure that their letters got where they needed to go. Kids from the U.S. would leave them in front of the fireplace and then wait for them to become smoke and go up to Santa. The process would be more rapid when children from Scotland went up the chimney and shouted out their Christmas wishes. In Latin America, kids attached their letters to balloons, watching as their letters drifted into the sky.
3. It Used to Be Illegal To Answer.
Santa was not able to respond to letters from children, so they had another reason not to mail them. Santa's letters were sent to the Dead Letter Office along with all other letters addressed to non-deliverable or mythical addresses. Even though Santa received numerous letters however, there was no legal way for them to reply. (Some postmasters, however, violated the rules.) The rules were modified in the year 2000 when the Postmaster General permitted approved organizations and individuals to respond to Santa's letters. Even today, such letters have to be made out explicitly to "Santa Claus" when the post office plans to allow them to be addressed. That way, families actually with the names "Kringle" or "Nicholas" don't accidently have their mail shipped to the wrong place.
![[Image: letter-to-santa-claus-christmas-card-wit..._l8aOkn_A=]](https://media.istockphoto.com/vectors/letter-to-santa-claus-christmas-card-with-box-gift-bow-candy-cane-vector-id878546922?k=6&m=878546922&s=170667a&w=0&h=HkD3CHq_xdJMKCzm91FPKRfYRQhrWVz71Y_l8aOkn_A=)
4. A cartoon helped spread the popularity of writing letters to Santa.
If there's a work that could be credited with helping kickstart the tradition of writing letters to Santa Claus, it's Thomas Nast's illustration that appeared in the December 1871 issue of Harper's Weekly. The image shows Santa taking care of his letters at his desk. He is sorted into two stacks, one of which is for "Letters of rude Children's Parents" the other for "Letters form Good Children's Parents." Nast illustrated a number of the most beloved characters from the past of the magazine. Nast was prominently featured in one of the magazine's largest-circulation magazines in the 1850s. The number of Santa letters that ended up in local post offices grew following the publication of his illustration.
5. These questions were answered by Newspapers
Before the Post Office Department allowed Santa letters to be released to the public, local newspapers encouraged kids and their parents to send them letters. In the year 1901, Monroe City Democrat of Monroe City, Missouri offered "two premiums” to the best letter. The Daily Ardmoreite in Ardmore, Oklahoma provided prizes to the three best letters in 1922. The winning letters were often published with personal information, which included the names of children's addresses. As Santa letters were processed more efficiently, the process changed.
![[Image: 393e50f6dd85a166d43fec8ec6a8b3f7.jpg]](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/39/3e/50/393e50f6dd85a166d43fec8ec6a8b3f7.jpg)
6. They were beaten by charity groups
Many established charities protested when the Post Office Department changed rules for answering Santa's letters. They claimed that the children's needs who wrote them could not be assessed and it was an inefficient way to assist the less fortunate. The Charity Organization Society made a typical complaint to the Postmaster General. Their representative wrote that "Santa Santa Claus letters" were receiving unwholesome attention in the city and elsewhere in the run-up to Christmas. The pleas were ultimately dismissed by the public, as the Postmaster General believed that the response to the letters would "enhance [children's] youthful belief" in Santa Claus.
7. Children don't always address them to the North Pole.
Although children nowadays send their letters to the North Pole for most of their correspondence, the North Pole was not the only option for the first couple of decades. St. Nick was also believed to have established his business in Iceland, Ice Street or Cloudville. It is possible to find some exceptions to this to this day. Most U.S. mail addressed to Santa Claus ends up at the post office in the town. However letters addressed to Anchorage, Alaska or Santa Claus, Indiana (a real name) are sent to the respective cities' post office. They will be greeted by local letters-answering campaigns. Children in England can send letters to Santa's Grotto (XM4 5HQ) in Reinderland. Canadian children need to write "North Pole" with the postmark H0H0H0 in order to receive their letters to Santa's grotto in Reinderland.
![[Image: 7133a40d290e6e5e794045995ce6ec94--letters.jpg]](https://i.pinimg.com/474x/71/33/a4/7133a40d290e6e5e794045995ce6ec94--letters.jpg)
8. 8.
Although the majority of people or organizations who took on the responsibility of responding to Santa's mail are decent happy, content people, some of these well-known initiatives have had tragic endings. Elizabeth Phillips, a Philadelphian woman who performed the role as "Miss Santa Claus", was killed by fumes from gas shortly after losing her right to answer Santa's letters (due to a change to the policies of the postal service). John Duval Gluck assumed responsibility for the city's Santa correspondences a couple of years later. Gluck was found guilty of using the Santa Claus Association to enrich himself for over 15 years. In the past an New York City postal worker pled guilty this October to stealing from Santa by making use of the USPS's Operation Santa Claus to get wealthy New Yorkers to give gifts to Santa.
9. The Post Office tracks them all in a Database.
In 2006 in 2006, the U.S. attempted to establish a formal way of Santa's letters being answered. The 2006 U.S. Postal Service created the national guidelines for Operation Santa. These were issued from every single post office across the country. The rules required those seeking to reply to letters to be in person and present an ID photo. The USPS modified the rules to require that children's addresses were removed from all letters before they were delivered to donors three years three years later. Instead of having a code the rules now require that the names of children be removed. The entire thing is stored in Microsoft Access database, to which only "elves" from the Post Office have access.
10. Santa Already Has An Email Address
Santa answers his email and is always trying to adjust to the ever-changing times. Santa is accessible via various channels, including Letters to Santa.com, Email Santa.com and Elf HQ. Macy's encourages children to send emails to St. Nick as part its annual "Believe” campaign. Children can also drop a letter at the red mailbox at the closest Macy's store. The Elf on Shelf people provide their own link to St. Nick.
Santa's letters were originally written as letters to children however, they were also utilized by parents as tools to encourage their children to behave. Fanny Longfellow, the wife of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Longfellow wrote letters to her children every season, providing feedback on their previous year's actions. As gifts became more important in Christmas then this changed, and the letters turned into Christmas lists of wishes. Some parents, however, continued sending letters to their children in Santa's style. J.R.R. could be the most outstanding of these. J.R.R. might be the most famous. Tolkien gave his children nearly 25 years of intricately illustrated updates each Christmas , centered around Father Christmas. The updates included snow elves as well as red gnomes. Check santa claus letter for kids for info.
2. 1.
Before the Post Office Department (as the USPS was known from 1971) came up with a solution to getting Santa letters to their destination children devised some creative ways to ensure that their letters got where they needed to go. Kids from the U.S. would leave them in front of the fireplace and then wait for them to become smoke and go up to Santa. The process would be more rapid when children from Scotland went up the chimney and shouted out their Christmas wishes. In Latin America, kids attached their letters to balloons, watching as their letters drifted into the sky.
3. It Used to Be Illegal To Answer.
Santa was not able to respond to letters from children, so they had another reason not to mail them. Santa's letters were sent to the Dead Letter Office along with all other letters addressed to non-deliverable or mythical addresses. Even though Santa received numerous letters however, there was no legal way for them to reply. (Some postmasters, however, violated the rules.) The rules were modified in the year 2000 when the Postmaster General permitted approved organizations and individuals to respond to Santa's letters. Even today, such letters have to be made out explicitly to "Santa Claus" when the post office plans to allow them to be addressed. That way, families actually with the names "Kringle" or "Nicholas" don't accidently have their mail shipped to the wrong place.
4. A cartoon helped spread the popularity of writing letters to Santa.
If there's a work that could be credited with helping kickstart the tradition of writing letters to Santa Claus, it's Thomas Nast's illustration that appeared in the December 1871 issue of Harper's Weekly. The image shows Santa taking care of his letters at his desk. He is sorted into two stacks, one of which is for "Letters of rude Children's Parents" the other for "Letters form Good Children's Parents." Nast illustrated a number of the most beloved characters from the past of the magazine. Nast was prominently featured in one of the magazine's largest-circulation magazines in the 1850s. The number of Santa letters that ended up in local post offices grew following the publication of his illustration.
5. These questions were answered by Newspapers
Before the Post Office Department allowed Santa letters to be released to the public, local newspapers encouraged kids and their parents to send them letters. In the year 1901, Monroe City Democrat of Monroe City, Missouri offered "two premiums” to the best letter. The Daily Ardmoreite in Ardmore, Oklahoma provided prizes to the three best letters in 1922. The winning letters were often published with personal information, which included the names of children's addresses. As Santa letters were processed more efficiently, the process changed.
6. They were beaten by charity groups
Many established charities protested when the Post Office Department changed rules for answering Santa's letters. They claimed that the children's needs who wrote them could not be assessed and it was an inefficient way to assist the less fortunate. The Charity Organization Society made a typical complaint to the Postmaster General. Their representative wrote that "Santa Santa Claus letters" were receiving unwholesome attention in the city and elsewhere in the run-up to Christmas. The pleas were ultimately dismissed by the public, as the Postmaster General believed that the response to the letters would "enhance [children's] youthful belief" in Santa Claus.
7. Children don't always address them to the North Pole.
Although children nowadays send their letters to the North Pole for most of their correspondence, the North Pole was not the only option for the first couple of decades. St. Nick was also believed to have established his business in Iceland, Ice Street or Cloudville. It is possible to find some exceptions to this to this day. Most U.S. mail addressed to Santa Claus ends up at the post office in the town. However letters addressed to Anchorage, Alaska or Santa Claus, Indiana (a real name) are sent to the respective cities' post office. They will be greeted by local letters-answering campaigns. Children in England can send letters to Santa's Grotto (XM4 5HQ) in Reinderland. Canadian children need to write "North Pole" with the postmark H0H0H0 in order to receive their letters to Santa's grotto in Reinderland.
8. 8.
Although the majority of people or organizations who took on the responsibility of responding to Santa's mail are decent happy, content people, some of these well-known initiatives have had tragic endings. Elizabeth Phillips, a Philadelphian woman who performed the role as "Miss Santa Claus", was killed by fumes from gas shortly after losing her right to answer Santa's letters (due to a change to the policies of the postal service). John Duval Gluck assumed responsibility for the city's Santa correspondences a couple of years later. Gluck was found guilty of using the Santa Claus Association to enrich himself for over 15 years. In the past an New York City postal worker pled guilty this October to stealing from Santa by making use of the USPS's Operation Santa Claus to get wealthy New Yorkers to give gifts to Santa.
9. The Post Office tracks them all in a Database.
In 2006 in 2006, the U.S. attempted to establish a formal way of Santa's letters being answered. The 2006 U.S. Postal Service created the national guidelines for Operation Santa. These were issued from every single post office across the country. The rules required those seeking to reply to letters to be in person and present an ID photo. The USPS modified the rules to require that children's addresses were removed from all letters before they were delivered to donors three years three years later. Instead of having a code the rules now require that the names of children be removed. The entire thing is stored in Microsoft Access database, to which only "elves" from the Post Office have access.
10. Santa Already Has An Email Address
Santa answers his email and is always trying to adjust to the ever-changing times. Santa is accessible via various channels, including Letters to Santa.com, Email Santa.com and Elf HQ. Macy's encourages children to send emails to St. Nick as part its annual "Believe” campaign. Children can also drop a letter at the red mailbox at the closest Macy's store. The Elf on Shelf people provide their own link to St. Nick.