At our house Santa is neither worshiped nor hated. He serves as an opportunity to give more presents to the kids without giving the impression we can always buy everything we want.

The older daughter wanted to write a letter to Santa. Mom cringed because we had already bought the bulk of her presents, and we didn’t want to buy any more. I’d heard what she wanted to write, so I said go ahead:

Dear Santa,

How is your wife?

From (name)

She also wanted to ask about the reindeer, but she ran out of paper.

The U.S. Postal Service last year offered to stamp a “Santa’s Reply” envelope that someone provided with a postmark from North Pole, AK, or Bethlehem, PA.