Postal elves gear up to help Santa
The national program has been around for more than 35 years
They have been a familiar sight along the route of the Niagara Falls Santa Claus parade for decades.
Teams of postal elves would collect letters destined for the North Pole from smiling children who lined the route.
“We’d get hundreds of letters from local kids and from kids all over the world as families would be staying in Niagara Falls and they’d come to the parade,” said postal elf Bob Prentice.
Although there was no letter collection this year as the city opted for a drive-thru parade due to COVID-19, the Canada Post elves are still hard at work.
Letters can be dropped off at the Canada Post office on Queen Street, or at any retail postal outlet.
“Don’t worry if you have already put your letter to Santa in a red mailbox,” said Prentice. “Santa’s postal elves in Hamilton are also on the job.”
Canada Post volunteers, both active and retired, have lent Santa a hand with millions of letters since the start of the program.
Prentice, who retired from Canada Post in 2013, has been a Santa elf for the past 36 years.
He’s helped St. Nick with close to 10,000 letters over the years.
“I look forward to it every year.”
The national program has been around for more than 35 years and has helped Santa reply to more than 26 million letters in more than 30 languages.
The deadline to get a reply before Christmas is Dec. 10, but Santa will respond to all letters received.
“It’s a long way to the North Pole and back, so we are encouraging everyone to mail their letters as soon as possible in order to get a response from Santa before Christmas,” said Valerie Chartrand, a spokesperson for Canada Post.
“Rest assured that we are working closely with Santa and his elves so that all letters sent to the North Pole will receive a reply. We know Santa can’t wait to see all those colourful letters come his way and our employees love to see them go through our postal system.”
Letters can be mailed to: Santa Claus, North Pole, Canada, H0H 0H0
No postage is required — but don’t forget to include a return address.