How the Post Office Handles Santa Letters

At a Boston post office, local children can send their letters to Santa Claus and actually get a reply. "Operation Santa" is a two-part program that replies to letters for Santa with a North Pole postmark, and also grants a few wishes through generous donors in the Boston community. Some letters contain wishes for Wii game systems or puppies, but now more than ever, letters to Santa are asking for "needs" rather than "wants." Single moms are asking for clothing or food and donors in the community are taking on a few requests. The number of wishers has increased dramatically from 730 letters to 1,100 this year, with fewer than 200 donors to help.