Stonington Mailman Writes Santa Letters

Greg Kuflik doesn’t look much like Santa.

He doesn’t walk around wearing a red suit, or have a round belly that shakes like a bowl full of jelly, and he lives in Connecticut not the North Pole. But for five years the Mystic resident and Stonington mailman has taken on one of Santa’s jobs.

Kuflik answers the letters local children write to Santa.

“It’s something I’ve enjoyed doing,” Kuflik said. “I assumed most children put them in the mailbox and never got a response. Answering them was the nice thing to do.”

He doesn’t answer every letter, just the ones that he collects along his route. It averages six to eight letters each year, sometimes from the same children.

With the parents' permission Kuflik responds to the letter as Santa and then also gives the parents back the original letter so they know what their child asked for.

“I try to make it personal,” Kuflik said.

The Santa mailman often knows the children who write the letters, knows if they have siblings, what grades they are in and if they live with both parents, one parent or guardians. Kufilk said he often mentions the gifts the children ask for in the letter, but doesn’t say for sure if Santa will be able to fulfill the wish.

A mailman for 15 years, Kuflik only began responding to the letters when assigned a regular route in the Stonington Borough part of town.

“I know the customers personally,” Kuflik said. “You get to know them.”

Sometimes Kuflik admitted he has to have his wife help him interpret the handwriting in the letters.

“Some of the letters are quite cute,” Kuflik said, adding that letters that stand out the most in his mind are the ones that mention the family isn’t doing so well this year, and ask for a gift not for themselves, but for a parent or sibling.

Kuflik said he hasn’t received any letters this year, but plans on continuing to answer any he receives.

“I get joy out of it and the parents are excited,” Kuflik said.