Himmelpfort, Germany - Six weeks before Christmas, Santa Claus opened his seasonal post office Tuesday in the eastern German village of Himmelpfort - "Heaven's gate" - bracing again for a deluge of children's letters. The post office, a good 4,000 kilometres from Santa's traditional home at the North Pole, received more than 280,000 letters last year, containing Christmas wishes from children all around the world.
This year, Father Christmas mustered the help of 20 angels to ensure that each letter received a personal answer.
The post reaching him from 80 countries has challenged Santa's language skills.
"Father Christmas now speaks 17 languages, the most recent addition being Chinese," said Santa's post-office spokesman, Rolf Schulz.
The festive season was well underway at the post office, where gold balls decorated Christmas trees and children sang yuletide carols.
Santa had already received around 7,000 Christmas wishes. These increasingly tended to be requests for technical gadgetry, including television sets.
"I think many children will also want traditional presents such as dolls or pets," Schulz said.
Little Jolande had just one request, "I wish for snow," her letter read.
In the coming days, other Christmas post-offices will open in German towns including Engelskirchen ("Angels' Church"), Himmelsthuer ("Heaven's Door") and Himmelstadt ("Heaven's Town").
Last year, a total of 600,000 letters reached Father Christmas via his seven German outposts, leading to capacity problems in some post offices. This year, Santa expected that record to be broken.
