Hi Tech Santa

Let's hope Santa has a computer – because Canadian children seem to be firing off far fewer letters to the jolly old elf this year and a lot more e-mails.

Canada Post said it received 50,000 fewer letters to Santa this year than it had by the same time in 2003.

A spokesperson suggested the drop might be because more children fired off messages to the e-mail address listed on the website for its letter-writing program.

"It may be just a sign of the age," said Peter Wypkema, communications director for Western Canada.

Canada Post has run the program for 22 years, rounding up 15,000 volunteers to help Santa answer letters from about one million children a year.

One of the volunteer "postal elves," Louis Lavoy of Winnipeg, said he normally responds to about 400 letters annually, but has only fielded a fraction of that total in recent weeks.

"This is my 75th [letter] that I have in the bag so far this year," he said. "The letter-writing from the children has been down."

He suggested that the snow's later arrival than usual might be partly to blame.