By Greg Ellison

(Dec. 3, 2020) A record number of North Pole greetings, transmitted via a crew of Ocean Pines based Christmas elves, were mailed on Monday as part of the annual “Letters From Santa” campaign orchestrated by Colby Phillips.

“This year has been the biggest outreach,” she said. “It’s over 700 letters.”

Phillips said factoring in that a small percentage of correspondence was intended for siblings, the overall number of folks St. Nick shared yuletide updates with through the Pines effort tops a thousand.

Speaking on Sunday, Phillips said the Worcester County branch of Santa’s workshop was running at full tilt with mail sacks being packed for drop-off the following morning.

“A lot of people have reached out and talked about how hard this year has been for them,” she said. “Many of them said that a letter would bring joy to their families and that’s the goal.”

After nearly a decade of delighting children, and more recently adults, the annual “Letters From Santa” campaign has continued to grow rapidly.

Phillips said after coordinating with Santa to send her daughters a yuletide note years ago, the campaign reached upwards of 500 souls last year.

“When my girls were little, I got to see the reaction when they received the letter,” she said. “Even though now I don’t see the reactions on the receiving end, I know what they are and it makes me feel good.”

The good vibrations have resonated to others who step up every year to help underwrite operating costs for Santa’s letter factory.

“What’s amazing, my husband, who’s working as an elf, asked me the other night, ‘How much does this cost you?’” she said. “I told him, ‘It’s just been my time.’”

Phillips said once the Santa letter production team starts organizing the effort in early October, unsolicited support begins arriving.

“I’m always amazed at how fast people come forward,” she said. “I had everything donated, including stamps, ink, envelopes and stickers.”

The feeling of holiday satisfaction isn’t the exclusive province of Phillips and Santa’s helpers.

“I’m putting time in with my elves stuffing envelopes and printing letters, but there’s a lot of people that are going to be involved in the joy that’s going out this week,” she said.

The time-consuming undertaking quietly launches each year weeks prior to Halloween.

“When I put it out there, people are often surprised at the time of year,” she said. “It takes me two months because every letter is personalized.”

Since expanding Letters From Santa to include an adult version in 2019, the popularity for grown-up recipients has blossomed.

“There’s probably over 200 letters for adults,” she said. “I think it’s because there are a lot that are home-bound and not able to see their families.”

Phillips said this year St. Nick intends to send pre-Christmas correspondence to help alleviate youths concerned about pandemic-related travel restrictions.

“A lot of kids this year are probably afraid if Santa can come with covid,” she said. “Santa does talk about covid in his letter and lets the boys and girls know how they’ve been handling it.”

Mirroring the covid-19 safety discussion, Santa’s better half recently found a fresh-baked solution for the facemask averse.

“One of the elves wasn’t really happy about wearing his mask but Mrs. Claus made it smell like cookies,” she said.

Phillips said although the bulk of greetings were mailed on Monday anyone still interested in receiving correspondence from Santa should promptly email Santaphillips@yahoo.com. Requests should include both name and address, as well as specifying if the letter is for an adult or child. Also, children wishing to send a letter to Santa can drop off their greeting at the Ocean Pines Post Office in a special yuletide-themed box that will be picked up by St. Nick’s reindeers. Be sure to include a return address for Santa’s return reply.