Post Office Ending Letters to Santa

USA Today has reported that children's letters to Santa will no longer reach the North Pole. The United States Postal Service decided to discontinue the program due to privacy concerns and fears that children's personal information could end up in the wrong hands. For the past fifty five years, "Dear Santa" letters were forwarded to a group of volunteers in the Alaska town of "North Pole" but the program is no more after it was discovered that a registered sex offender was among last year's volunteers. However, it has been reported that if children address their letters to "Santa House, North Pole, Alaska" or "Santa's Mailbag, North Pole, Alaska" they may receive a reply, but it is still undetermined.

I'm sure most of you recall writing at least one letter to Santa when you were a child. I can recall being a mere three or four years old and having my older brother write my letter for me. I asked Santa to teach me how to read and I also asked if I could meet Rudolph. Luckily, my brother is five years my elder and played along with my outlandish requests that I outlined in the letter. I can even recall him claiming to have seen a glimpse of Rudolph's shiny, red light bulb like nose through his bedroom window on Christmas eve. Unfortunately, I do not think I ever received a reply from Santa or his elves, but in my heart I knew that he read it. Even though I did not get to meet Rudolph that Christmas, I was convinced that he was the one who ate the cookies I left out and Santa was nice enough to bring me some talking story books to boot.

The discontinuation of this program proves just how much the world has changed over the years. It is no longer safe for children to play at the park without parental supervision and they even need to be supervised at the bus stop each morning. I recall fondly that the best part of my childhood was the fact that I believed in the magic of Christmas. Without the "Dear Santa" program being in existence, many children are going to be quite suspicious or heartbroken when their letters are "returned to sender". Unless, of course, their parents are aware of the recent change and either readdress their child's letter or intervene when it is returned. Even though this change seems nothing short of Grinch like, with a little work it is still possible to keep the magic of Christmas alive for today's children.