USPS: Volunteers Needed For ‘Operation Santa’
Children's letters to Santa Claus are seen in Manhattan's General Post Office in New York City. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
In 1912, United States Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock authorized local postmasters to respond to children in need during the Christmas season. Since then, Operation Santa has been an annual tradition, relying on kindhearted volunteers to answer kids’ letters to the North Pole.
One hundred and ten years later, Operation Santa is set to launch again, and the U.S. Postal Service is looking for volunteers to participate. The program allows participants to respond to letters sent to Saint Nick, writing back or sending gifts to one or more children that they choose.
According to WMC-TV, volunteers must register online and have their identity verified. You can get complete details on the USPS website, but sign up soon. The slots usually fill up quickly!
Volunteers can adopt a letter beginning November 28th. The last day to send a letter is December 12th. The last day to adopt a letter is December 19th. If your child wants to write to Santa they can send it here by December 12th:
Santa Claus
123 Elf Road
North Pole 88888
The Top 10 Festive Baby Names For a December Due Date
Expecting a holiday bundle of joy but don’t know what to name your baby? There has been a notable rise worldwide in Google searches for “Christmas baby names” over the past 12 months — a whopping 272% increase. Researchers at Absolute Digital Media have ranked the top 209 festive baby names using Forebears, to establish which festive baby name is most popular worldwide. It calculates this by determining how many people have that name, which country it is most prevalent and the origin meaning. Another analysis was conducted using Name Berry‘s seed list of Christmas baby names. Christmas names considered include: names that mean blessed or holy, star or light, joy or peace; nature names related to snow or the trees and flowers of Christmas; names of the Holy Family, the angels and the Wise Men. Some of the names on the list are more unique, such as Snow, Drummer, Lumi, Lucian, Kerensa and Pace.
54 of the most popular festive baby names in the world are most prevalent in the United States.
If you’re expecting a baby born during the end-of-year holidays, or simply want a name that reflects the magical season, see the top 10 list of Christmas baby names below:
Phil Harris is 50% of "Phil & Mel in the Afternoon" on K104.7. He has been with the station since 2013 and on the air in Charlotte since 2000. Before coming to the Queen City, Phil worked for radio stations in Pittsburgh, Austin, and Seattle. In addition to the weekly "Throwback Threesome" music video feature, Phil writes about things that matter to Charlotte sports fans and pet owners. He happens to be both.
