Children in France have until December 20 to write to Père Noël

Time to decide who has been naughty or nice: children in France can now write to Father Christmas until December 20, and can even receive a letter back in English, as the tradition enters its 60th year.

Children sending letters addressed to Père Noël can expect to receive a response (although not the presents requested, sadly). Letters will be sent not to Lapland, but to Libourne (Gironde).

Postal workers, assisted by a team of volunteer ‘elves’, will respond to letters in French or in English.

Children can write to the man himself in two ways.

• A traditional letter in an envelope, addressed to Père Noël. Remember to put your own address on the back in order to receive a response.

• An email via the animated website pere-noel.laposte.fr, via the link reading ‘Start’, and then ‘Ecrire ma lettre’ (Write my letter).

La Poste has a page with advice on how to write, and advises that children do not simply list gifts, but instead say hello, tell Father Christmas how their year has gone, so he can ‘see if they have been naughty or nice’, and say thank you.

The letters can be addressed to several different places, including:

• Monsieur Père Noël, Atelier du 25 Décembre, 250 avenue des Nuages, 1000 Pôle Nord (Cloud Avenue, North Pole)

• Petit Papa Noël, 1 rue du Ciel étoilé, Pôle Nord (Starry Sky Street, North Pole)

• Papa Noël, Avenue des Rennes, Laponie (Reindeer Avenue, Lapland)

A letter simply addressed to Père Noël will also arrive when sent within France. No stamp is needed.

Anyone sending a letter from outside of France who wants to receive a letter in response, can send their letter to Père Noël, 33500 Libourne, France.

For children lacking letter-writing inspiration, La Poste has also added some template ideas to get them started.

As well as a letter in response, senders will also receive a colouring-in postcard that they can send to their family and friends if they wish.

Last year, the service received 1.2 million letters addressed to Père Noël.

Read also: French cheesemakers bring out an advent calendar with 24 types to try

This is the 60th year of the scheme, which began in 1962. In that year, La Poste received 5,000 letters. In response, children received a letter from the famous paediatrician and psychoanalyst Françoise Dolto, who was the sister of then-Post Minister Jacques Marette.

That year, it read (in French): “My darling child, your kind letter made me very happy. Here’s a picture of me. You see that your letter did indeed reach me, and it’s very cute.

“I have received many orders. I do not know if I will be able to bring you what you have asked for. I will try, but I am (very) old and sometimes I get it wrong, please forgive me.

“Be good, work hard. I am sending you a big hug. Father Christmas.”

The scheme was launched after the minister learned that two postal workers, Odette Ménager in Nueil-sur-Layon (Maine-et-Loire) and Magdeleine Homo in Veules-les-Roses (Seine-Maritime), were responding manually to letters addressed to Père Noël.

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