Santa Claus and gnomes have more than enough wish-lists to read in Finnish Lapland

Postal gnome says lists have shortened this year

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The cheery and energtic gnomes at Santa Claus’ Main Post Office on the Arctic Circle could be excused for being a bit fraught, as they are currently going through the busiest time of their year, handling large piles of letters from children all over the world.
     
Joulupukki, Jultomte, Papá Noël, Santa Nicolaus, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, or Weichnachtsmann are the names written on envelopes. However, all letters coming to this post office are addressed to the same receiver.
      The number of letters to Santa Claus does not yet seem to reflect the global economic recession very much.
      ”The number could be just a little lower than in previous years”, says a gnome wearing glasses, tossing a thick log on the fire.
      This year, the total number of letters is predicted to be around 700,000, most of them coming from Great Britain, Poland, Italy, and Finland.
      ”It remains to be seen whether the number of countries will be more than 200 this year for the first time”, says another gnome dashing by.
      How is it possible that Santa Claus could so much as have a quick glance at all of these requests?
     
”Every night I read a couple of letters, but mostly the gnomes have to take care of that”, Santa Claus admits in his study just across the yard.
      The tens of thousands of letters from all over the world are carried to Santa Claus by Itella, the Finnish mail delivery service. The company has made contracts with a large number of countries worldwide, and all letters are carried to the destination, even those with no stamp.
     
Upon arrival the letters are sorted out according to the countries and languages.
      Some children have sent large lists of wishes, but the record is held by a hopeful from Britain.
      A letter arrived containing an Excel spreadsheet with 427 wishes, including the suggested places of purchase, and the total value of the wishes amounted to something in the region of EUR 66,000.
     
”This year letters have been slightly different”, the gnomes suggest.
      ”Please bring what you can”, writes a little Finnish girl.
      ”If you have two old sleeping bags, felts, and old warm shoes”, wishes a young woman from Russia.
      The gnomes look at each other. Should this letter be forwarded to the Finnish Red Cross?
      ”The letters reflect the events in the world”, the gnomes observe sagely.
     
While the letters from Great Britain are polite, stressing how very very good the sender has been over the past 12 months, Finns do not care for such niceties or compliments to the Big Guy, but get to the point right away:”Hello Santa! here is another Christmas wish list for you.”
     
The further east one goes from Finland, the longer are the letters and the shorter the wish-lists. A 90-year-old Japanese grandmother has sent a box full of folded paper Santas.
      Time is pressing, but the address to Santa Claus is: Santa Claus’ Main Post Office, 96930 Arctic Circle, Finland. E-mail wortks, too: joulupukinpaaposti@posti.fi.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Bank survey forecasts Finns could spend 20% less on Christmas than last year (27.11.2008)

Links:
  Santa Claus´s Main Post Office

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