Have you ever wondered where letters to Santa Claus go? I can tell you. They go to Indiana. Santa Claus, Indiana. And Santa writes back.

Each year the Santa Claus Museum & Village and a group of local volunteers called “Santa’s Elves” answer letters sent from children all around the world. They make sure each child receives a reply from Santa Claus; in 2012 over 14,000 letters were answered. As long as they have a return address on them, the good people of Santa Claus, Indiana do everything they can to answers these letters, continuing a tradition that goes back as far as 1914.

One volunteer, Lisa, told me that some letters make them laugh; others make them cry. But they answer every one. What makes them even more special is that they get a special postmark from the Santa Claus, Indiana post office. This makes me wish I’d sent…