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Santa shows us his favourite letters from Irish children

He’s been getting them for 30 years, you know.

CHRISTMAS IS NOT too far away at all, and children from all across Ireland have already started sending their letters to Santa.

An Post have been ensuring that these letters have been safely delivered to Santa for over 30  years, as well as helping with each and every reply. 130,000 children in Ireland write to Santa every year.

Will you send a letter to Santa this year?

If you want to send Santa a letter, it’s really easy to do – all you need to do is send your letters to ‘Santa Claus, The North Pole‘ and remember to write your name and address very clearly on the top left-hand corner of the envelope, put a 70c stamp on it and pop it into a green An Post post box.

This is free of charge, but Santa really needs your name and address in the top left hand corner to reply, so don’t forget to write it very clearly.

Santa’s favourite letters…

Shutterstock / Pressmaster Shutterstock / Pressmaster / Pressmaster

This year, Santa dropped into TheJournal.ie offices to show us some of his favourite letters that he’s received – and he let us share them with you, too.

Letters have been coming in from all over Ireland, and from children of all different ages, and Santa’s very impressed with all the effort that goes into them.

Sinéad, Dublin

Sinéad made Santa a card with a lovely Christmas tree drawing on the front and lots of sparkly decorations and fluffy snowmen inside.

An Post An Post

An Post An Post

Dear Santy, please may I have: Jessie + Woodie, Toy Story, Unicorn, Baby Doll, Monster High Doll. I will be the best girl, Sinead.

Milla and Freya, Meath

Milla and Freya’s letters have some great drawings of Santa’s workshop and all the people, elves and reindeer in the North Pole.

Here’s Santa singing while he works in his workshop…

An Post An Post

Dear Santa, Please may I have… Nerf Rebelle codebreaker, Alfie the training puppy and a surprise. Thanks sooo much! From Freya.

Rudolph, a snowman, Santa and a helper elf are taking a well-deserved rest in the snow here.

IMG_5269 An Post An Post

Dear Santa, please may I have… a little lire pets butterfly house and a Nerf rebelle codebreaker crossbow and a surprise. Thank you Santa, from Milla.

Ellen, Cork

Ellen from Kanturk, Cork made Santa a whole book because he has been so kind to her in previous years. She even forgot to ask for something this year – but Santa says he knows what she wants.

An Post An Post

This is the front cover of Ellen’s book – with a picture of the man himself on the outside, and lots of colourful stickers and drawings. We think he’s on the phone to Rudolph, making sure there’s space on the sleigh.

IMG_5276 An Post An Post

Dear Santa, I’ve made you a whole book because you are so kind to us every year. I loved my Innotab Max and the other toys you gave me.

An Post An Post

I bet you were so tired. I’m just wondering when did you land at my house. It’s ok if you don’t remember.

IMG_5289 An Post An Post

I was so excited on Christmas Eve. We kept track of you on my mom’s phone. When I woke up I rushed to the sitting room. I was so surprised about the surprises.

Ethan, Offaly

Ethan has lots of drawings to such Santa exactly what he wants – including a wheel for his hamster, the quad bike and helmet, a Playstation 4 and some Fifa 15 games and a portrait of Rudolph (although that’s just for Santa).

An Post An Post

Dear Santa, please may I have a quad and a helmet and I promise I will be careful on it. Can I have a Playstation 4 and with the minecraft Playstation addition and Fifa 15 games. Thank you soooo much. Ethan.

Eve, Kildare

Eve has a very organised list and lots of lovely little pictures – there’s a Christmas tree, bells, an elf, a letter and lots of lovely colours. And at the bottom there’s a really big ‘Please!’. We think Santa can see how much time and effort Eve put in.

An Post An Post

Dear Santa, this Christmas there is 7 things I would like to find under my Christmas tree when I wake up on Christmas morning. I completely understand if you are not able to get everything on my last because I know you have a hard job delivering presents to other children across the world. I hope you have a lovely Christmas. Eve

Fionnola, Laois

Fionnola is staying in her aunt’s house for Christmas, but Santa says he won’t have any trouble finding her.

Her letter is very organised and colourful and has lots of cool stickers and drawings of happy faces on it.

An Post An Post

Dear Santa, how are you? For Christmas this year, please may I have: Blythe Doll, Project Mc A.D.I.S.N Journal, I Do 3D-Deluxe Design Studio, Hair dye (temporary) 3DS, Tomagochi Life, Pop Vinyl Ariel or Elsa, Irish Fairy Door Company Limted Edition Winter Fairy Door, Ever After High daughter of Jasmine, Taylor Swift perfume. Please can I have them for Christmas? Love Fionnola.

Santa’s letter to the children

Picdrome Public Domain Pictures Picdrome Public Domain Pictures

Santa had a little message for all the children of Ireland -

Will you be helping the children be writing letters to Santa this year? Every child gets a reply from Santa and his helpers…

Remember kids, Santa needs to get those letters as soon as possible in order to get the sleigh packed up right. Send your letters to ‘Santa Claus, The North Pole’ and remember to write your name and address very clearly (so he can write back to you) on the top left-hand corner of the envelope, put a 70c stamp on it and post it into a green An Post post box

Parents – this is free of charge, but Santa really needs the child’s name and address in the top left hand corner to respond. 

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9 Comments
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    Mute Mazza86
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    Sep 6th 2019, 1:36 PM

    South Africa is taking a similar path…

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    Mute ➕The Gray➕
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    Sep 6th 2019, 2:16 PM

    @Mazza86: is? Already happening, riots on the streets a couple of weeks back.

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    Mute ➕The Gray➕
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    Sep 6th 2019, 2:19 PM

    Will our leftist president send his condolences I wonder.

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    Mute Terry McClatchey
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    Sep 6th 2019, 1:40 PM

    At that time, Mugabe was seen as similar to Nelson Mandela. Their paths diverged later.

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    Mute The long walk home☘️
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    Sep 6th 2019, 2:12 PM

    @Terry McClatchey: in the 80′s Charlie Haughey was regarded as a respected statesman and Thatcher had among her pals Pinochet.

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    Mute CBD HeavenSent
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    Sep 6th 2019, 1:30 PM

    The Blueshirts still fall over themselves when their British royalty steps foot on our nation. Watching the likes of Bruton and Kenny creaming themselves is truly sickening.

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    Mute Clifford Brennan
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    Sep 6th 2019, 1:37 PM

    @CBD HeavenSent: Yes, normalising relations between our two countries is sickening. When McGuinness shook hands with the British Queen, and Adams shook hands with Prince Charles I’d say you must have fainted. Poor lad.

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    Mute The Great Unwashed
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    Sep 6th 2019, 1:40 PM

    @CBD HeavenSent:
    Is that what you took from this story??

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    Mute CBD HeavenSent
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    Sep 6th 2019, 1:49 PM

    @Clifford Brennan: Those meetings were meaningful acts that built bridges and showed that the Brits had finally realised that the Oirish were their equals and should be finally treated as such.

    John Brutons meeting the royals “the greatest day of my life” was nothing more than a cap doffing kowtowing of a loyal West Brit subject to his superior. If he had royal ascent to kiss their arse I have no doubt he would have done it also.

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    Mute The Great Unwashed
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    Sep 6th 2019, 2:11 PM

    @CBD HeavenSent:
    Sorry to be the one to break it to you but he didn’t actually say that – it’s an urban myth:
    https://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/irishness-means-more-than-hating-england-37092068.html

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    Mute Clifford Brennan
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    Sep 6th 2019, 2:22 PM

    @CBD HeavenSent: Your first mistake is thinking that McGuinness/Adams represented the Irish nation. They didn’t. Those handshakes represented the concluding act of the so called war. Not sure why you’ve (deliberately?) quoted a line Bruton never actually said, either. Maybe you need a lie down. :)

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    Mute Chin Feeyin
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    Sep 6th 2019, 2:28 PM

    @Clifford Brennan: “not sure why you’ve quoted a line Bruton never actually said”

    He probably saw it on Facebook!!

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    Mute Tommy Roche
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    Sep 6th 2019, 3:26 PM

    @The Great Unwashed: Now that you have set him straight, will CBD now, A. Admit his error. Or B. Completely ignore you and continue to spread that particular myth. Tough one to call, but I’m gonna guess A.

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    Mute The Great Unwashed
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    Sep 6th 2019, 4:33 PM

    @Tommy Roche:
    Don’t be putting any money it, that’s all I’ll say…
    ;-)

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    Mute John Hanrahan
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    Sep 7th 2019, 7:47 AM

    @CBD HeavenSent: You’re an idiot. Has nothing to do with the Blue Shirts. Stay on the subject.

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    Mute Des Hanrahan
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    Sep 6th 2019, 2:01 PM

    Mugabe turned out to be corrupt and a thug in the end. However, there us one point about the land seizures that doesn’t get mentioned. Under the agreement that ended the war there, White farmers were to give up their lands and be compensated by the British and Zimbabwean governments (on a 50/50 basis) after 20 years. When the time came to impliment this the British /Tony Blair renaged on their side of the agreement. So Zimbabwe sized the land without compensation in retaliation.

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    Mute The Great Unwashed
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    Sep 6th 2019, 2:23 PM

    @Des Hanrahan:
    Partially true, but the agreement only applied by consent, ie. subsidies would be made available where farmers willingly wanted to sell their land – no farmer was under any obligation to sell up.

    34
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    Mute The Great Unwashed
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    Sep 6th 2019, 2:45 PM

    @Des Hanrahan:
    Plenty of money was actually paid over – Blair only pulled the plug on the scheme when the allocated pot ran dry in the late 90s.

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    Mute Willy
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    Sep 6th 2019, 1:43 PM

    It’s a blue shirt thing…

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    Mute Damon16
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    Sep 6th 2019, 1:56 PM

    @Willy: you do know that from the beginning Mugabe was a marxist in the Castro mould. He was praised by socialists everywhere. As usual it all ended in tears. And until very recently there were many a western comrade willing to write glowing articles about Mugabe and his legacy in the pages of hip marxist magazines.

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    Mute Chin Feeyin
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    Sep 6th 2019, 2:07 PM

    @Willy: Mugabe was a Marxist like your crowd.

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    Mute Greedylocks
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    Sep 6th 2019, 2:08 PM

    @Willy: devalera sent his condolences to the germans on the dimise off one Adolf Hitler on behalf of the Irish people. Ffg are one and same.

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    Mute thephantomshit
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    Sep 6th 2019, 1:35 PM

    Impressive chap but he was no Idid Amin. Now there was a guest worth having over for dinner!

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    Mute The Great Unwashed
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    Sep 6th 2019, 1:42 PM

    @thephantomshit:
    Not that different – birds of a feather.

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    Mute Juan Fangio
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    Sep 6th 2019, 1:59 PM

    @thephantomshit: Over for dinner, but keep the kids out of sight.

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    Mute DaMoons
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    Sep 6th 2019, 3:42 PM

    @The Great Unwashed: Agreed, both put in place by the Brits.

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    Mute The Great Unwashed
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    Sep 6th 2019, 4:40 PM

    @DaMoons:
    Wrong on both counts, but hey, why let small details like facts get in the way of a good rant eh?

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    Mute J. Reid
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    Sep 6th 2019, 2:33 PM

    This says it all about Garrett FitzGerald’s judgement, or lack thereof.

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    Mute Chin Feeyin
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    Sep 6th 2019, 3:53 PM

    @J. Reid: well, you wouldn’t remember this, but Mugabe managed to fool a lot of people into believing he was the real deal.

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    Mute Michael Walsh
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    Sep 6th 2019, 7:58 PM

    @Chin Feeyin: a lot of people fooled Garrett Fitzgerald

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    Mute Paula Mackie Senior
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    Sep 6th 2019, 5:43 PM

    Good riddance! He destroyed the *breadbasket of Africa * by greed. Anyone check his Swiss bank accounts?

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    Mute Cormac Ó Braonáin
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    Sep 7th 2019, 7:22 AM

    @Paula Mackie Senior: breadbasket of Africa? For the white minority in power. The same way Ireland was the breadbasket of the British empire in the 1840s.

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    Mute Tom Bombdadil
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    Sep 6th 2019, 3:25 PM

    We have a long history of supporting clowns, Haughey, Bertie, Cowan, Kenny.

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    Mute Neville Bartos
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    Sep 6th 2019, 4:24 PM

    Wonder if we will see a similar article in 20 years time about Mahmoud Abbas

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    Mute Desmond Lyons
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    Sep 6th 2019, 3:56 PM

    That goes to show just how thick Brian Lenihan was!

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    Mute Michael Walsh
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    Sep 6th 2019, 7:59 PM

    @Desmond Lyons: He was far from thick

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    Mute Garreth Byrne
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    Sep 6th 2019, 9:34 PM

    One Irish politician/former politician, Conor Cruise O’Brien, was not impressed in the late 1970s by Robert Mugabe. After a British television discussion in 1979 Mugabe privately told O’Brien that he was not a friend of the struggle against colonialism and O’Brien replied that after colonialism it was important for African nationalists to abide by democratic politics. We now know – we knew in the early 1980s – that Mugabe instigated the police murders of thousands of anti-government people in Matabeleland.

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    Mute Aaron Jones
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    Sep 6th 2019, 3:10 PM

    Yeah but he was a dictator that fooled everyone to assert control over he own country and people.

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    Mute Gordon Walsh
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    Sep 6th 2019, 1:54 PM

    The white farmers bred Rhodeshian Ridgebacks to dislike/attack dark skinned people – guess it wasn’t enough to stop the “land reforms’

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    Mute John Walsh
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    Sep 6th 2019, 5:14 PM

    “One man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist ”
    Springs to mind

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    Mute Cormac Ó Braonáin
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    Sep 7th 2019, 7:26 AM

    @John Walsh: the founder of Zimbabwe and a hero to his people. Single-handedly irradicated the apartheid, imperialist system the Brits had implemented. Unfortunately our media comes from the West.

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    Mute Mike Conway
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    Sep 6th 2019, 3:51 PM

    Acceptable in the 2010s: Ireland once regarded Trump as a respected statesman and honoured guest

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    Mute paul kelly
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    Sep 6th 2019, 9:06 PM

    We are very lucky the Brits paid for land redistribution, pity they did not do the same in Rhodesia/ZImbabwe

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    Mute The Great Unwashed
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    Sep 7th 2019, 12:16 AM

    @paul kelly:
    They did for almost 20 years following Zimbabwe’s independence.

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    Mute Fergal Pigat
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    Sep 6th 2019, 3:31 PM

    Rot in Hell

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    Mute TamuMassif2019
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    Sep 7th 2019, 12:51 PM

    Under a FG government at the time???

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