Santa’s helpers at Christmas post offices in Germany spread some cheer
A man dressed as Santa Claus poses with his ‘helpers’ who are busy answering children’s letters in the Santa Claus post office in the Eastern German town of Himmelpfort (Heaven’s Gate) on November 10, 2011. Children can send their Christmas wish lists to Himmelpfort from around the world and receive a reply from Santa. In 2010, the post office here received 285.000 letters in 17 languages.
Santa’s elves not only work at the North Pole, but at the post office too.
Children around the world who want to write to Old Saint Nick can expect a response from one of his German postal elves this Christmas, the Christian Science Monitor reported.
Seven post offices throughout Germany will be dedicated solely to replying to the scores of letters addressed to “Father Christmas” or “Christ Child.”
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The most popular Christmas post office in Himmelpfort (meaning “heaven’s gate”) has received as much as 280,000 letters from more than 80 countries in previous years. Santa’s little helpers of the small Bavarian village can answer back in 16 different languages.
"I write a letter. I sign it 'Your Christkind,' and I give the children a piece of advice. I send them a little angel, a drawing, a poem," Rosemarie Schotte, 20-year Christmas post office veteran, was quoted by the CS Monitor saying. "We want to bring back the spirit of Christmas, which is a celebration of love, not necessarily big presents.”
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CS Monitor reports how the Christmas post office tradition started:
“The letter-writing tradition all started decades ago when a letter addressed to the Christkind ended up in Himmselstadt. Postal workers, not knowing what to do with it, just answered it. The following year, a few more children wrote. Over the years, what had been a few isolated letters turned into a flood."
Letters to Santa Clause can be addressed to:
Weihnachtsmann
Weihnachtspostfiliale
16798 Himmelpfort
Germany
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