(12 Dec 2006) ++CLIENT REFEED++
LAPLAND SANTA POST OFFICE
SOURCE: AP TELEVISION NEWS
RESTRICTIONS: HORIZONS CLIENTS ONLY
LENGTH 4:21
1. Various of Santa Claus opening letters
2. Wide of Santa Claus Post Office
3. Wide of cuddly toys in front of fireplace
4. Various of letters in letter holes
5. Mid of Elf sorting letters
6. Pan from hands to face
7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Pia Elf
"We are now in Santa Claus' main post office, it is the one and only Santa Claus' real post office that works all the year around and there are some special things here so we have for example a special postmark, that is the first postmark with a picture in Finland and it has Santa Claus' picture on it and it has the circle degrees (of latitude)."
8. Various cutaways of Arctic Circle postmark
9. Various of Sani Elf (from South Korea) working
10. Various of letters in boxes
11. SOUNDBITE: (Korean) Sani Elf : +TRANSLATION NOT VERBATIM+
"The children all around the world sent a lot of letters to Santa Claus. I help deliver all the letters to Santa Claus"
12. Letters pinned to wall
13. Wide tourists writing letters on table
14. Various of Tiina Elf stamping mail
15. SOUNDBITE: (English) Tiina Elf :
"I'm cancelling today's mail with the postmark of the Arctic Circle, and this mail is going out today for the friends of the people who have visited here."
16. Man writing letter
17. Wide of tourist Ricardo Diaz writing
18. Close up of Ricardo Diaz's hands
19. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Ricardo Diaz, Tourist from Valencia in Spain
"I am writing to my children, to my nephews and nieces, to all the family to say that the children must behave themselves so that Santa Claus brings them many presents."
20. Wide of people writing
21. Wide of people leaving post office
22. Close up of sign
23. Wide of window of post office lit by candles
LEAD IN :
Ever wondered with happens to all the Christmas letters sent to Santa Claus at the North Pole from all around the world?
Many actually end up in Santa's mailbag after arriving at his post office in the Santa Claus village at the Arctic Circle in Lapland.
STORYLINE:
More than half a (m)million Christmas letters are sent to Santa Claus from around the world and they all end up in Santa's mail bag for him to read.
Before they are delivered to Santa's office they arrive here at the post office on the Arctic Circle, which is run by a team of international elves.
The team leader is called Pia Elf.
The run up to Christmas is of course especially busy but Pia says the post office is open all year round.
Pia says that last year the post office received letters from 194 countries.
They are sorted by country and then passed on to Santa Claus himself.
Sani Elf, originally from South Korea, says she likes to help deliver the letters with Christmas wishes to Santa.
Even letters without a stamp, which are addressed vaguely with something like 'Santa Claus, North Pole', often end up here.
But the elves advise that it is better to have a proper stamp on your envelope.
The elves deal not only with incoming mail but also with outgoing letters and postcards sent from here to visitors families and friends around the world.
Tiina Elf explains that each outgoing piece of mail gets stamped with a special Arctic Circle postmark, which bears Santa's likeness, to prove it was indeed sent from the Arctic Circle.
The postmark means the stamp can not be used again.
Ricardo Diaz, at tourist from Valencia in Spain says that he is writing to his family to remind the children to behave or Santa Claus won't bring them presents at Christmas.
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