Deadline Approaching For Letters To Santa From Howard County Kids

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — What's more exciting for a child during the holiday season than receiving a personalized letter from Santa straight from the North Pole? Postal officials with the Greetings from the North Pole Post Office program suggest people pop their children's letters in the mail no later than Dec. 7 so the Anchorage, Alaska, postmaster receives them by Dec. 13 and they to earn the "North Pole" postal stamp on a return letter to a child.

"Santa Claus is imaginary? Not as far as your child is concerned — and the Postal Service can help you prove he’s real when your child gets a personalized letter from the big guy — complete with a North Pole postmark," said the USPS in a statement.

The USPS offered the following tips for crafting the perfect letter from Santa for your child:

• To save paper, write on the back of your child’s letter. If you keep them together, your child will also be able to recall what he or she wrote.
• When responding as Santa, make letter from Santa as personal as possible by highlighting your child’s accomplishments over the past year. For example, helping around the house, receiving good grades in a particular subject at school or participating in community service activities.
• This is a great activity for Thanksgiving that the whole family can enjoy, including parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and other caregivers.

Here's how to make the holiday magic:

1. Have your child write a letter to Santa and place it in an envelope addressed to: Santa Claus, North Pole.
2. Later, when alone, open the envelope and write a personalized response. To save paper,write the response on the back of the original letter.
3. Insert the response letter into an envelope and address it to the child.
4. Add the return address: SANTA, NORTH POLE to the envelope.
5. Affix a First-Class Mail stamp, such as a new Winter Berries Forever stamp to the envelope.
6. Place the complete envelope into a larger envelope — preferably a Priority Mail Flat Rate envelope — with appropriate postage and address it to:

North Pole Postmark
Postmaster
4141 Postmark Drive
Anchorage, AK 99530-9998

"Santa's helpers at the Postal Service will take care of the rest," officials noted.