Before Santa Claus prepares to leave the North Pole and make his Christmas deliveries, he has several bags of handwritten letters from children in Chilton County to respond to.

“We had about 10-15 letters a day,” Clanton Post Office clerk Rena Crumpton said. “The letters this year started coming in pretty early. We were getting them right after Thanksgiving, and it has been pretty steady since then.”

For years, post offices in Alabama receive loads of handwritten letters addressed to Santa from kids near and far.

“Kids love writing to Santa Claus,” Crumpton said. “They learn at an early age how to address a letter and say ‘dear’ and ‘from’ which is something they will need to know when they get older.”

This year, all letters addressed to Santa and sent to the Clanton Post Office were later forwarded to Birmingham, where a postmaster fielded all of the letters and organized them for Santa to respond.

“This is the first year in a while that we have forwarded all of the letters to Birmingham,” Crumpton said. “They hired someone this year to field all of the Santa letters, and that person is handling them.”

Crumpton said the fascination with many children who write a letter to Santa is knowing they will receive a letter back.

“I think that provides a lot of the enjoyment for the kids knowing that if they sit down and write a letter to Santa, he will write them back,” Crumpton said. “The little elves at the post office try and make sure every letter has a response. If we receive letters with a return address, chances are they will receive a letter back.”

Crumpton said with different types of technological devices popular among kids, knowing that many of them still write letters is encouraging.

“Seeing kids address a letter with a stamp on it and get excited about sending it is always a lot of fun for us,” Crumpton said. “We love seeing the letters come in.”

Crumpton said most of the letters are filled with different requests for certain types of toys, but many letters inquire how Santa is doing or even ask for gifts for siblings.

“The sweetest letters are from kids who ask Santa for things for their brothers and sisters,” Crumpton said.

It is unknown how many years the post office has received letters addressed to Santa, but employees at the Clanton Post Office say the tradition has continued for more than 30 years, if not longer.

“We hope the tradition will continue for years to come,” Crumpton said. “I have a feeling that Santa loves receiving those letters just as much as the kids love writing them.”