Santa's mail room is in the middle if its busiest time of year, with millions of letters flooding in from children around the world. And more than 65,000 of those letters have come from New Zealand - including a fair smattering from the South.
This year's letters have been sent both by traditional mail and by email to the North Pole, after being rounded up by New Zealand Post in an agreement with Santa that stretched back to 1998.
New Zealand Post's ‘‘Letters to Santa'' co-ordinator Katey Cameron said Santa kindly showed some of the opened letters to New Zealand Post staff, although he never gave them the children's full names or addresses.
It was clear the little letter writers were not leaving anything to chance, she said, with many including detailed lists of their gift preferences.
This year, letters from children in the South included one from "Emma'' who, after giving Santa a rundown of her year and stating her gift preferences, asked Santa: "One question, what are your favourite cookies?''
Another letter writer asked ‘‘Santa Claws'' for "a little live pet, a bunny''.
The most popular gifts requested this year were iPads, iPhones, Nerf guns, dolls, makeup and mermaid toys.
But the children also had other requests from Santa, including world peace and dinosaur DNA, while many asked him to call or write to them. Others sent in cards containing gifts, drawings and elaborate art work for the man in red.
Ms Cameron said while Santa's online form closed on November 30, children could still post their wish list to Santa's Workshop, North Pole 0001.
