Postal Service’s Operation Santa invites families to ask for, fulfill Christmas wishes

(WISH) — It’s time again to get your Christmas wishes mailed off to Santa, and the U.S. Postal Service will help match gift-givers with letter writers in its 108th year of Operation Santa.

Kids can write a letter to Santa, making sure to include their full name and address on the envelope, along with a postage stamp. The letter can be simply addressed SANTA CLAUS, but the Postal Service says it prefers a full address:

SANTA CLAUS
123 ELF ROAD
NORTH POLE 88888

The Postal Service provides downloadable templates for kids’ letters, or you can use your own paper to tell Santa what you want for Christmas. The Postal Service recommends including sizes and colors for requests that include clothing and shoes, and for specific information if kids want a particular toy, book or game.

Get your letter in the mail from now until Dec. 14 to be considered by families, groups and companies who will read the letters — online only this year — and adopt the families, buying gifts and sending them through the Postal Service.

People who want to adopt a family and send gifts can look at letters online starting Dec. 4, go through a short vetting process and choose one or more letters to fulfill.

The Postal Service provides three shipping labels per letter and recommends not sending cash or checks. If you want to send a monetary gift, use a gift card.

And remember to keep any written notes in the packages anonymous — the gifts are meant to be from Santa.

According to the Postal Service website, 11,304 wishes have been fulfilled and 12,761 letters have been adopted.