	{"id":93551,"date":"2023-12-08T04:57:45","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T17:57:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/?p=93551"},"modified":"2023-12-08T10:23:17","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T23:23:17","slug":"christmas-spirit-lives-on-at-the-post-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/news\/christmas-spirit-lives-on-at-the-post-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas spirit lives on at the post office"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ALTHOUGH the grinches at Australia Post\u2019s head office have discontinued Santa mailboxes, staff at Heathcote Post Office are ensuring kids\u2019 letters will all be answered by the jolly fat man himself.<\/p>\n<p>After six years at the post office, licensee Rhonda Linnell said she knows how much joy a letter from Santa can bring.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve actually been answering them ourselves for a few years as Australia Post used to just send each child a standard letter with the name changed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChildren were always disappointed when they all got the same letter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have a team of volunteers who help us to write personal replies, based on what the children have said in their letters, and we try to be diplomatic, of course.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cParents and grandparents often tell us how much their children appreciate the special replies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Santa\u2019s mailbox is situated just inside the front door of the post office and newsagency, and children from Heathcote and surrounds are welcome to post their letters to the North Pole.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSometimes we get letters from other areas, and that\u2019s fine, we still send them a reply,\u201d said Ms Linnell.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s completely free. A small thing but it makes children happy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tickets for a Christmas raffle in support of Legacy can also be purchased at the Heathcote Post Office.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe prizes are all centred on a Christmas theme, including a beautiful Christmas wall hanging donated by Rita Stratton,\u201d said Ms Linnell.<\/p>\n<p>The raffle will be drawn on Friday 22 December and tickets are $1 each or six for $5.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ALTHOUGH the grinches at Australia Post\u2019s head office have discontinued Santa mailboxes, staff at Heathcote Post Office are ensuring kids\u2019 letters will all be answered by the jolly fat man himself. After six years at the post office, licensee Rhonda Linnell said she knows how much joy a letter from Santa can bring. \u201cWe\u2019ve actually [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/news\/christmas-spirit-lives-on-at-the-post-office\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":215,"featured_media":93552,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-93551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Christmas spirit lives on at the post office - McIvor Times<\/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:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/news\/christmas-spirit-lives-on-at-the-post-office\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christmas spirit lives on at the post office - McIvor Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ALTHOUGH the grinches at Australia Post\u2019s head office have discontinued Santa mailboxes, staff at Heathcote Post Office are ensuring kids\u2019 letters will all be answered by the jolly fat man himself. After six years at the post office, licensee Rhonda Linnell said she knows how much joy a letter from Santa can bring. \u201cWe\u2019ve actually [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/news\/christmas-spirit-lives-on-at-the-post-office\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"McIvor Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-07T17:57:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-07T23:23:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2023\/12\/PO-Santa-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sandra James\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sandra James\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/news\\\/christmas-spirit-lives-on-at-the-post-office\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/news\\\/christmas-spirit-lives-on-at-the-post-office\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sandra James\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a0c5b31d59e28a69f8971339b37c030\"},\"headline\":\"Christmas spirit lives on at the post office\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-07T17:57:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-07T23:23:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/news\\\/christmas-spirit-lives-on-at-the-post-office\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":267,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/news\\\/christmas-spirit-lives-on-at-the-post-office\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/25\\\/2023\\\/12\\\/PO-Santa-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/news\\\/christmas-spirit-lives-on-at-the-post-office\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/news\\\/christmas-spirit-lives-on-at-the-post-office\\\/\",\"name\":\"Christmas spirit lives on at the post office - McIvor Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/news\\\/christmas-spirit-lives-on-at-the-post-office\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/news\\\/christmas-spirit-lives-on-at-the-post-office\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/25\\\/2023\\\/12\\\/PO-Santa-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-07T17:57:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-07T23:23:17+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/news\\\/christmas-spirit-lives-on-at-the-post-office\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/news\\\/christmas-spirit-lives-on-at-the-post-office\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/news\\\/christmas-spirit-lives-on-at-the-post-office\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/25\\\/2023\\\/12\\\/PO-Santa-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/25\\\/2023\\\/12\\\/PO-Santa-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1920,\"caption\":\"Making their lists: Billy and Ally Shaddock are looking forward to getting a letter from Santa. 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