![\"\"](\"http:\/\/urban-plains.com\/2016\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/header-6.jpg\")
Photo courtesy of the Spencer County Visitors Bureau<\/p><\/div>\n
The residents of Santa Claus, Indiana, stay in high spirits year-round<\/span><\/h5>\nWords by Sarah Mattes<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nFrom Santa\u2019s Stables to Santa\u2019s Candy Castle, the jolly man\u2019s namesake is unmistakable in the small rural town of Santa Claus, Indiana. For over 160 years, this Midwestern town has been sharing the jovial man and the holiday that celebrates him with families from across the country.<\/span><\/p>\nWhile trying to establish a community post office, the people of then Santa Fe needed to rename their town and could not agree on one.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cIt was Christmas Eve, the [townspeople] met in a log church for a Christmas service, and after the program was over, the adults met and decided we have to figure this [naming situation] out,\u201d said Melissa Brockman, executive director of the Spencer County Visitor\u2019s Bureau. \u201cThe kids were running around playing when a gust of wind blew open the church doors, and they heard jingle bells, so the kids said, \u2018Santa Claus,\u2019 and the adults said, \u2018That\u2019s right. Santa Claus, Indiana, it is.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nThe post office opened, and letters began to flood in. Children from across the globe sent letters and Christmas lists to Santa using Santa Claus, Indiana, as his address, of course. The postmaster at that time hated to see the children go unanswered, so he decided that every letter mailed to the Santa Claus post office would receive a response from Santa himself. To this day, any child that mails a letter to Santa Claus in Santa Claus will receive a letter back, making this the longest-lasting tradition in the little town.<\/span><\/p>\n[aesop_gallery id=”7200″]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The residents of Santa Claus, Indiana, stay in high spirits year-round.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Spreading Christmas Cheer - All Year Long | Urban Plains<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/urban-plains.com\/2016\/culture\/spreading-christmas-cheer-all-year-long\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Spreading Christmas Cheer - All Year Long | Urban Plains\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The residents of Santa Claus, Indiana, stay in high spirits year-round.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/urban-plains.com\/2016\/culture\/spreading-christmas-cheer-all-year-long\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Urban Plains\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UrbanPlains\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-11-16T12:00:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-02-21T01:32:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/urban-plains.com\/2016\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/header-6.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"378\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Urbanplains\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Urbanplains\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urban-plains.com\/2016\/culture\/spreading-christmas-cheer-all-year-long\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urban-plains.com\/2016\/culture\/spreading-christmas-cheer-all-year-long\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urban-plains.com\/2016\/#\/schema\/person\/327b16822f73300b09b5ae06f9e8fbfb\"},\"headline\":\"Spreading Christmas Cheer – All Year Long\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-11-16T12:00:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-02-21T01:32:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urban-plains.com\/2016\/culture\/spreading-christmas-cheer-all-year-long\/\"},\"wordCount\":291,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urban-plains.com\/2016\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Culture\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/urban-plains.com\/2016\/culture\/spreading-christmas-cheer-all-year-long\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urban-plains.com\/2016\/culture\/spreading-christmas-cheer-all-year-long\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/urban-plains.com\/2016\/culture\/spreading-christmas-cheer-all-year-long\/\",\"name\":\"Spreading Christmas Cheer - 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From Santa\u2019s Stables to Santa\u2019s Candy Castle, the jolly man\u2019s namesake is unmistakable in the small rural town of Santa Claus, Indiana. For over 160 years, this Midwestern town has been sharing the jovial man and the holiday that celebrates him with families from across the country.<\/span><\/p>\n While trying to establish a community post office, the people of then Santa Fe needed to rename their town and could not agree on one.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt was Christmas Eve, the [townspeople] met in a log church for a Christmas service, and after the program was over, the adults met and decided we have to figure this [naming situation] out,\u201d said Melissa Brockman, executive director of the Spencer County Visitor\u2019s Bureau. \u201cThe kids were running around playing when a gust of wind blew open the church doors, and they heard jingle bells, so the kids said, \u2018Santa Claus,\u2019 and the adults said, \u2018That\u2019s right. Santa Claus, Indiana, it is.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The post office opened, and letters began to flood in. Children from across the globe sent letters and Christmas lists to Santa using Santa Claus, Indiana, as his address, of course. The postmaster at that time hated to see the children go unanswered, so he decided that every letter mailed to the Santa Claus post office would receive a response from Santa himself. To this day, any child that mails a letter to Santa Claus in Santa Claus will receive a letter back, making this the longest-lasting tradition in the little town.<\/span><\/p>\n[aesop_gallery id=”7200″]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The residents of Santa Claus, Indiana, stay in high spirits year-round.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n