If you live in St. Albert this is how you can send a letter to Santa during the postal strike

A special mailbox for letters to Santa on Michelle Krause's front lawn on Sonora Drive in St. Albert. (Galen McDougall/CTV News Edmonton)

St. Albert children looking to send letters to Santa Claus during the Canada Post strike have several options this holiday season.

Michelle Krause is collecting letters at her home on Sonora Drive in St. Albert.

She started the operation last year just in her area, but this year she's expanding to the entire city.

"I needed to bring some magic. And so I reached out to Santa's elves and they came back to me and said, 'We're bringing you a mailbox, and so we work together,'" she told CTV News Edmonton.

She says Santa's elves come every two or three days to pick up the letters from her special mailbox.

"They pick up all the letters, they take them up to the North Pole. They review them with Santa, they bring them all back to me, and then they ask me to hand deliver them here to the residents in St. Albert, and I do that for them."

Krause said she started the mailbox because she wanted to bring some of the magic back to the Christmas season.

"I just felt over the years, it's been a bit over commercialized, and I have my own grandchildren now and I just want to see the happiness on the kids' faces."

Krause noted she needs a return address to deliver the letters back from Santa.

The UPS Store on 65 Street in St. Albert is also collecting letters for the North Pole.

"We've got a mailbox set up for kids to be able to come in and drop off their letters to Santa. We will courier them to Santa, and he will send them back to our location," said store owner Jodie McFadzen.

McFadzen says all letters must come with a name and phone number.

"The return address is not important because of the strike right now," she explained.

"We asked for a phone number to be on your letter so that we can call you to let you know when that package comes back from Santa."

She says there is no charge to courier the letters to Santa.