Hard times for Santa, and for everyone else

The extent to which money woes are weighing on children is clear from the letters flooding into North Pole, Alaska. That’s the home of the Santa Claus House, a Christmas-themed shop where parents can order letters from Santa with a North Pole postmark. It gets tens of thousands of letters to Santa every year. Operations manager Paul Brown says the messages not only predict the holiday’s hottest toys months in advance but also gauge the mood of the nation.

“When we had the housing crunch, we saw, ‘Please help us stay in our house,’ ” Mr. Brown says of the letters, which are forwarded to a nonprofit that works with charities in the children’s hometowns. “This year, it’s more job-related.”