Last week, elves made the trip to Adams County to install the North Pole letter box at Blake Pharmacy in West Union. The box is sponsored by the Informer, Blake Pharmacy, and West Union Councilman Jason M. Francis.
“Thanks to some great partners, each child that drops off a letter to Santa will receive a post card in the mail from the North Pole. In addition, the letters will also be published in the Christmas edition of the Informer and each kid will be registered for a prize to be given away on Christmas eve,” said Matthew Sheeley, Publisher of the Informer.
The letters can be dropped off at the West Union location of Blake Pharmacy. Parents are reminded to make sure the name and mailing address is on the letter to Santa. Letters need to be dropped off to Blake Pharmacy before December 19th to be published and for a post card to reach the child in a timely manner. However, letters will be accepted until Christmas eve at Noon.
Children writing letters to Santa has become a beloved tradition of many around the holiday season; however, the letters and the process have changed a lot over the years.
Some of the first letters to Santa were actually letters written by Santa for children. The children would receive a letter from St. Nick that would discuss their behavor from the past year in an effort to improve it in the future.
As time passed the tradtion evolved, as many do, and children began to write letters to Santa as a way of communicating about their life and sometimes to ask for things they wanted.
Santa’s address has also changed a good bit. Some of the first letters to Santa were addressed to a myriad of locations. Including the back of the moon and iceland.
The USPS originally considered them “dead letters” and didn’t delivery them. Many local newspapers from that time period picked up the tradition and would often run a constest of sorts to find the best letters and publish them.
