Impress the kids

As we discussed yesterday, the real St. Nick, a fourth-century bishop, came from Myra (now Demre, Turkey). So how did he end up in the frozen north.

The famous political cartoonist Thomas Nast established Santa’s official residence as the North Pole in several illustrations in the 1800s, according to NPR. At the time, there had recently been a series of expeditions to the Arctic, and the North Pole was thought of as a mythical, magical place.

The Canadian postal service has been giving Jolly Old St. Nicholas a helping hand. For over 40 years, Canada Post has been helping Santa with his huge holiday volume of mail. Thanks to Canada Post’s Santa Letter-writing Program, children can write to the jolly old fellow in virtually any language, including Braille, and receive a response in the same language. (Bunkies, tomorrow is the day you needed to have your letters postmarked, to receive a reply before the holidays. If you live in the States, it’s probably too late to get a response by Christmas but the nice folks at the Canadian postal service will make sure that Santa will respond to all letters he receives.)

Santa’s correct address happens to be:

Santa Claus
North Pole H0H 0H0
Canada

(Please note the zip code)

You better hurry though, Christmas is just around the corner (and if you are a kid – what the heck are you doing reading this blog, it’s not appropriate for you. Although you could go into your parents room while they are sleeping and fill an envelope with those green pieces of paper in their wallets and send it to me at …)