Broken Arrow letter carrier answers letters to Santa

Do you ever wonder where all of those letters to Santa end up? I met a letter carrier in Broken Arrow who intercepts the letters he receives along his mail route every year and answers them himself. Answering Christmas wishes brings Brad Shirley joy, but don’t call him an elf! He says he’s one of Santa’s helpers.

So far this year, Brad Shirley has five Santa letters that he’s answering. One reads, “Dear Santa, I’d like a new phone. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE is capitalized. I dropped mine and it doesn’t work anymore, even though my mom said to leave the case on it.”

Shirley started his side-gig as Santa’s helper back in 2010, while working in Tulsa. He explains, “I walked up to a house and the child said, hey if I give you a Santa letter will you make sure it gets to the North Pole? I said absolutely. So the next day I got there and there wasn’t a letter in the box and the following day they were out in the yard. I said hey, where’s your Santa letter? They said, well I don’t think I’m gonna write one. I said why not? And they said, well mom said we don’t have enough money to get a Christmas tree and I don’t think Santa’s gonna come if we don’t have a Christmas tree. So that was kind of the first day.” That night Shirley bought a tree, lights and some ornaments and brought them to the family the next day. “I can’t change the world but I can maybe make Christmas a bit better for someone I don’t know,” says Shirley.

Usually when a letter carrier finds a letter to Santa, they turn it into their supervisor, and the child gets a generic letter in return. Shirley says that’s not enough. “I always make sure I answer all of them because I don’t want December 26th to come around and some of these kids say I wrote a letter to Santa and I didn’t get anything back.” Shirley adds, “some of these Santa letters, they pour their heart out and they ask for stuff that I can’t give. Like, you know, can you go find my dad? Sometimes when I read these letters it’s upsetting because I can’t fix what they’re sad about, but I can do some good.”

Shirley adds some personal touches - special stationary with a touch of glitter, a note typed with a typewriter, and an ornament he makes with his son. He says, “my big thing is having them, you know, whenever they open the letter and they see that it looks authentic and they believe that Santa actually wrote them that letter.”

In August, he starts holding back money. Shirley does everything on his own time. All of his deliveries are made after his work day is over, and he uses his own car so there’s no confusion. Shirley adds, “It’s not about the gifts. It’s about answering the letter for me.” One letter says, “dear Santa, I’ve been wondering about jobs. I want to be a photographer and I lost my camera so I’m asking for a camera. Signed Felix. Sorry about the handwriting. I’ve interacted with Felix and his sister several times and he’s probably four or five. You know honestly, his handwriting is a lot better than some adults I’ve seen! (laughs) I just wanted to do my part keeping the tradition, keeping hope alive.”

Shirley says many letter carriers answer Santa letters like he does, but he’s hoping more will join in.