Letters to Santa Claus through Canada Post

Our Letter Writing Club is happening again this Thursday (December 8) - the last one of 2016! crazy! - and I thought this was the perfect time to remind everyone of Canada Post's Letter Writing to Santa initiative. In my opinion, this is far and away one of the best things Canada Post does: every Christmas season, they welcome letters to Santa Claus at the North Pole, written by children across Canada and from around the world, and then Santa writes back. This picture sort of leads one to believe that Caleb is mesmerized by his list of requests, but I think the concept of Santa is a bit beyond him at 2, and he's more mesmerized by the magic of his own handiwork. This initiative truly epitomizes the miracle of the holidays, and the magic of letter writing, and also just how friendly and amazing Canada and its postal system are. It just doesn't get any better than this. I think Canada Post may have a secret army of elves at its processing plants, but also a huge and generous army of volunteer postal workers who answer these letters from family households and classrooms and daycares everything. I've known about this initiative for some time, but this is the first year I wrote a letter with Caleb. To be honest I did most of the suggesting (...maybe a truck? -Oh! Yah!) and all of the writing, but Caleb participated with a few Q-tip swabs and stickers. I think it's pretty funny that his Q-tip marks are always a bit circular, which I think is from watching me do a million and one circle swabs of ink. If you're sending it from within Canada, you don't even need postage. I'm including postage on Caleb's letter, both because I want to support Canada Post and this great initiative, but also because I want Caleb to experience the whole process and ritual of writing a letter and adding postage. Plus for him, it's basically just an expensive sticker. Teaching him young: the importance of closing caps on bottles of ink after use. Licking the envelope. I melted the wax for him, and then he pressed the seal on. We sometimes put wax seals onto postcards that we include with online orders, and Caleb helps with pressing the seal on, so he's already pretty familiar with the process, and pretty good at it. Adding a few extra stickers onto the envelope. If you're from outside of Canada, you do need to put postage on it to get it into the Canada. I think it's also a bit delightful, the whole notion that when you're writing to Santa from anywhere in the world, you send it to Canada, as we're geographically situated to get it to the North Pole. And plus I think it's a super fun thing to do with a child of any age - to get them into the festive spirit by writing an actual letter, sending it, and then receiving something back. Our Letter Writing Club takes place in our shop, from 7-9 pm. It's free, and we provide all of the supplies you'll need - just bring a few addresses, or, this month you can write to Santa. We have stationery and postage, pens to try out, and a few snacks to nibble on. This time of year in particular, it seems like the perfect evening to spend not thinking so much about hustling and bustling around, but a time to just relax and write and enjoy the company of folks who love writing and letter writing as much as you do.