“Unveiling the Secret: The Surprising Destination of Santa’s Letters Revealed!”
Of course, many of these letters were never actually mailed, rather traditionally left next to some form of a fireplace to be picked up or left by Santa. However, as the 19th century progressed, it seems to have become more and more common to actually mail letters through the postal system to Santa, particularly as postage became cheaper and cheaper.
As for the types of things the kids writing these letters used to ask for, one 19th century example that ultimately got quoted in a contemporary edition of The Times, stated the child wanted, “a big wagon—not so very big—four wheels, two packs pop-crackers, a Mother Hubbard book.” Other letter writers requested things like “a stick of pomade” for their dad, prayer books, writing desks, coal for their fires to keep warm in the winter; there is even one adult woman who wrote to Santa asking for a “tall, stately, well bred… man of wealth with a steady income.” Essentially, in the early going people seem to have been fairly practical for the most part, though requests for dolls and candy and other such more fun items became more and more of a thing as the century progressed.
As for someone outside of Santa specifically fulfilling the requests being mailed, this, for the most part, wasn’t a thing in the 19th century, outside of some specific exceptions. For example, in 1894 one letter by a girl named Fannie was selected out by Connecticut’s postmaster Harris Eames and read, resulting in Eames deciding to rally people to respond. He later stated of this, “On Christmas eve … everybody walked up the steps on tiptoe and deposited the load of presents against the front door … When everything was safely in place the door was given a thunderous knock, and the crowd fled in haste to the gate and then all hid behind the little fence … The door slowly opened, and for a moment Fannie’s night-gowned figure stood framed in the doorway. She saw Santa Claus’s gifts and with shrieks of delight, called to her mother.”
