Spread Holiday Cheer and Do Serious Good With Operation Santa

Okay, yes, pinning your charitable work to holidays can be a problem . But also, this time of year there are lots of people in need-both for seasonal gifts that make life feel good and for winter necessities-and Operation Santa is one solid way to help.

With Operation Santa, the USPS collects letters addressed to the big guy in red and connects them with people looking to give.

We think of kids' letters to Santa as pie-in-the-sky wishing. Dear Santa, I want a pony. Dear Santa, I want a baby sister. Dear Santa, please take my baby brother back. But some of the letters USPS collects show a more serious kind of need.

Luisa, age 12, asks Santa for a jacket, boots, sweaters, a stuffed elephant... and, okay, an iPad. (Dream big!) Daisy writes on behalf of her son, Ivan, who is five years old and has autism, asking for a metallic slinky or pop tubes that her nonverbal son loves.

You can browse letters by category and in English or Spanish. If you want to fulfill a letter-writer's wishes, you "adopt" their letter, fulfill the requests, and drop your package off at the USPS for it to be sent anonymously-it's from Santa, after all.

Operation Santa can get pretty popular, so if the letters run out, see if your town organizes a similar wish-fulfillment for families in need. Your local newspaper can be a good place to check.

There's no better kind of request, though, and there's no better kind of giving. Whether you're helping a kid get a new winter coat or helping them feel festive, you'll be doing some serious good.