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Elves at Royal Mail hub sort letters to Santa

News imagePA Media A group of people dressed as Christmas elves look through a sack of letters written to Santa. They have green and red tunics on, green and red pointy hats and large elf ears. They look excited. PA Media

Elves at a Royal Mail sorting office in Edinburgh are once again organising hundreds of thousands of letters to Father Christmas from children across the UK.

It is part of the annual Santa Letters programme, which has been running for more than 60 years.

Children who send their wishlist by Wednesday 10 December can even expect a reply from the man himself.

This year, a British Sign Language (BSL) version of the card from Santa will also be available for the first time.

News imagePA Media A man dressed as Christmas elf pushes a trolley of letters to Santa in a Royal Mail sorting office. He is wearing a green and red tunic, green and red pointy hat with large elf ears and pointy-toed green shoes. PA Media

Mark Dawson has worked for the Royal Mail for more than 10 years.

For the past five he has put on his elf attire for the two months leading up to Christmas.

He said: "Every year for about two months, we don our elf hats, and then we're working for Santa Claus.

"We get all the letters from all the kids all over the country, and we gather them all up, we open them up, and we prepare them and send them off to Santa Claus in the North Pole.

"It's all part of the magic of Christmas, isn't it?

News imagePA Media A woman dressed as a Christmas elf holds a large pink Royal Mail sack. In the background, a group of elves is gathered around a table sorting through letters. They all have green and red tunics on and green and red pointy hats adorned with large pointy elf ears. PA Media
News imagePA Media A group of people dressed as Christmas elves are sorting through boxes of letters sent to Santa. They are smiling at each other as they work. The walls behind them are decorated with children's Christmas cards and light up tinsel. PA Media
News imagePA Media A woman dressed as a Christmas elf is putting a letter onto a shelf with one hand. In the other hand she is holding a stack of letters to Santa. She has a green and red tunic on and a pointy hat with large elf ears on it. PA Media
News imagePA Media A stack of letters to Santa. The one at the front is in a red and white envelope with a picture of Santa Claus on it. It says "To, Santa" and is addressed to Santa's Grotto, Reindeerland, XM4 5HQ PA Media

Children participating are asked to include their full name, address and postcode, and must stamp all letters.

Those who wish to write to Santa should mark their letters with the following:

Santa/Father Christmas,

Santa's Grotto,

Reindeerland,

XM4 5HQ