Children have been sending letters to Santa for longer than the United States Postal Service has existed to deliver them, though today, they’re far more likely to get a response. In early America, children’s holiday wish lists were often written out and left by the fireplace or burned in hearths, with the belief that the ashes would rise through the chimney and out to the holiday helper himself. Today, there’s no fireplace necessary — just a stamp — since the USPS gives Santa Claus his own address: 123 Elf Road, North Pole, 88888.
After the creation of the Postal Service in 1775, letters to Santa began flooding mailboxes; local postmasters would sometimes intercept the mail and respond to children themselves (though this is technically mail fraud, most postal workers considered the deed an act of kindness and looked the other way). Eventually, the lack of a specific postal route for thousands of Santa letters became problematic for real-life delivery workers.
By 1907, the sheer number of unanswered letters bogged down the Postal Service’s dead-letter office (the home for unclaimed or undeliverable mail), and many ended in incineration. So, the country’s postmaster allowed post offices to give Santa letters to generous individuals and charitable organizations, who then answered letters and delivered gifts. Dubbed Operation Santa in 1912, the program has continued for more than a century. It’s gotten a modern update, however: Wish lists from children and adults are anonymized and digitized, then uploaded to the USPS website, giving holiday do-gooders the chance to play Santa and reply with the kindness of a surprise gift.