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Letters to Santa Flood Alaskan Town
No matter how cookies in the lure, Santa and his helpers never make any promises in writing.
Ideally, parents and other adults write their own Santa replies, put them in a stamped, self-addressed envelope and tuck them into a larger envelope addressed to the Fairbanks post office.
  Marcia Bernier stamps the North Pole, Alaska cancellation on a letter from Santa Claus to a writer from Pennsylvania, at the main post office in Fairbanks, Alaska, Tuesday Dec. 5, 2006. Santa letters mailed to North Pole, Alaska, are processed in nearby Fairbanks. (AP Photo/Al Grillo) (Al Grillo - AP) 
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Either way, replies get a North Pole postal cancellation mark, complete with a half-moon drawing of Santa's face. The Fairbanks post office also stamps the postmark on thousands of Christmas cards and packages diverted through Alaska from outside the state each year.
Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks also runs a Santa letter project. Santa's Mailbag was started in 1954 by base weather forecasters.
Last year, more than 4,000 letters were received and followed up with replies from base volunteers. Many of the letters came from children of military families stationed in the lower 48 states and abroad, but civilian children also are welcome to write, said Staff Sgt. Melody Goode.
Even late letters get a reply, Goode said.
"It says something like 'Thanks for writing. Santa's been real busy,' anything the kiddies might want to hear," she said.
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