The letters come flooding in from around the county.
Children write to Santa Claus asking for video game systems, horses, Legos, hover boards, a pet kitten or puppy, cars and other toys of their dreams.
In some of the letters that pull at the heart strings, children ask for homes of their own, for a little something for their parents or lament about their siblings. “I want my brother to share his toys,” read one letter.
With Santa getting millions of letters a year, local volunteers are helping make sure that local children who write a letter to Santa get a response.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryVolunteers at nursing homes, senior centers and retirement homes across the county and at some local post offices have been taking the letters and acting as Santa’s elves to carefully craft personal responses to each child.
They never promise the children specific gifts in their letters. Instead, they write about how Santa is preparing for his trip around the world by supervising the elves making gifts and getting the reindeer fit for their journey.
And their responses get personal in some cases, with an annoying little brother being mentioned or with Santa writing about his affinity for a specific cookie a child said they plan to leave for him on Christmas Eve.
Volunteer elves munch on cookies and giggle at the letters as some are read aloud. They ask what a certain toy being asked for is and swap advice on how best to respond to each letter.
Some think of their grandchildren, which drives them to craft the perfect response to each child, said Cathy Bailey, office manager of the Franklin Active Adult Center.
“That’s what I like about it,” she said.
And answering the letters makes them think of their own Christmases as children, when getting just one doll from Santa was unexpected and was a treat, said volunteer elves at Compass Park, formerly known as the Indiana Masonic Home.
“We were lucky to have candy and fruit,” said Laura Weinantz. “Santa always put nuts in our stocking.”
They marvel at what children can think of, with toddlers asking for real flat bed trucks and animals. In response to a child asking for a real kitten, a volunteer wrote about how live animals can be hard to transport, but that Santa would do his best.
Other elves around the county are chipping in and responding to letters too.
The United States Postal Service gave local branch employees the chance to answer Santa letters that came through their branch or to send them to another team of elves to answer.
For Michelle Rockey, officer in charge at the Greenwood post office, answering the letters is a time-honored tradition and is something that she looks forward to. Each child gets the same response, where they are told the elves and Mrs. Claus are helping Santa prepare for the journey. And they are always encouraged to be nice.
“It is just what we have always done to get them turned around to the community quickly in Greenwood,” she said.
Most write the letters to children to bring happiness into their life.
“It’s for a good cause, if it makes someone happy, it’s good,” volunteer Hannelore Smith said.
And kids make the effort worth it, volunteer Delores Wilmoski said.
“Kids are always something to volunteer for,” she said.
