For generations, children have mailed letters to Santa Claus, and postmasters — given limited address information — knew exactly where to deliver them. In the trash can.

Not so in northern Illinois, where last week one of two 4-year-old twin boys had his letter to Santa returned with the notation "Return to Sender, Insufficient Address, Unable to Forward."

Eric Gilmore's letter was addressed:
To: Santa
North Pole

You'd think that would be enough. You don't exactly need MapQuest to find Santa's place at the North Pole.

The Gilmore family is being good sports about the gaffe, made worse by the fact that only little Eric's letter was returned, while brother Evan's reached its appropriate landfill destination. I was in Chicago last week and saw on the local news that arrangements were made to expedite a correct delivery to the North Pole, and the boys received an apologetic phone call from dad's office Santa himself.

Next year, Eric should pen a letter addressed:
To: Postmaster
Uranus

On a happier note, the boys were named Person of the Year by TIME magazine on Sunday.