If you intend to mail a letter to Santa Claus this year, you may want to cross it off your Christmas check-list sooner rather than later.
Canada Post is trying to clear mountains of mail that piled up during more than five weeks of rotating strikes. The process has been slowed in recent days with unions and activist groups blocking access to some processing sites.
In the mix could be hundreds of thousands of letters from eager children to Santa.
Canada Post handled 1. 6 million letters addressed to St. Nick last year with more than half coming from schools and daycares. Every child who writes to St. Nick from home will receive a personalized letter in return. Classrooms get a group letter and a special surprise from the North Pole.
Earlier this week the post office's website urged parents and teachers to get their letters to Santa in the mail by December 10. But that guideline has vanished.
"We encourage all parents and children to continue to send letters to Santa," Canada Post says in a statement.
"We're working through the backlog and we're looking to have lettermail deliveries current by Christmas. That said, it’s a long way to the North Pole and back so we encourage everyone to send their letters to Santa as soon as possible to ensure that Santa has lots of time to receive, read and respond to each one!"
Letters to Santa can be sent here:
Santa Claus
North Pole
HOH OHO