As a child, Rick Brostrom would write a letter to Santa Claus and leave it next to the milk and cookies he left out on Christmas Eve.
Despite having only a few minutes notice, Santa would give Brostrom most of what he wanted — if not everything.
"I was a greedy little boy," Brostrom, now 52, recalled with a laugh.
Thanks to Brostrom's handiwork six years ago when he built the mailbox that sits outside Santa's house at 754 Frederick Road, the boys and girls of Catonsville can reach out to St. Nick and give him weeks to plan the spoils he'll bring.
The project began when Brostrom belonged to Ravens Roost 88, a Catonsville nonprofit that once cared for the Santa House and doled out cookies and hot chocolate during the tree lighting.
Brostrom, no longer a member of Ravens Roost 88, thought about the children who couldn't make it to the annual tree lighting to get in touch with Santa.
"I don't even remember seeing a Santa mailbox growing up," said Brostrom, who first moved to Catonsville at the age of 11. "It's something for the kids who couldn't see Santa Claus. Now, they can at least write to him."
And write they do. Brostrom estimated kids stuff the candy-cane-striped mailbox with between 80 and 100 letters each season.
Typically, Brostrom waits until the end of the holiday season to collect and read through the letters, but this year he's anxious, he said, and likely will sort through many of them before the holiday.
They will provide a diversion for Brostrom, who is facing back surgery on Dec. 16 that will require him to wear a brace for the next two months, he said.
"It's quite a job. I usually have my whole family sit around and read them all together and pick out the good, the bad and the ugly," said Brostrom, a father of four, the youngest of which is 23.
After Santa has a chance to read through the letters, Brostrom saves all of them except the ones obviously written by adults, are pranks or were severely weather-beaten, Brostrom said.
Susan Schepp, a second-grade teacher at Westchester Elementary School, had her 22 students practice their letter-writing skills by sending a note to Santa Claus.
Among the students was Sam Tully, now in third grade at the school, who wrote two letters to Santa last year and wrote another this year.
"I've really always liked writing by hand to writing on the computer," Sam said. "We used a Santa Claus (shaped) paper. I had to use like 11 Santa Clauses just to write all the things I wanted."
Santa must have read the letters in Brostrom's mailbox because Sam said she got everything she asked for on her list, which included video games and toys for her cat.
This year she's hoping for an iPad and another video game among other things.
To preserve the youngsters' memories against the elements and the mailbox from weathering, Brostrom, a contractor for the past 25 years and owner of On Time Construction, said he touches up the paint each year and caulks the roof.
He noted he may have to replace the entire structure after this Christmas because its legs were weakening, but all the work would be worth it to continue the tradition.
"(I like) what they say in the letters," Brostrom said. "I want to keep an eye on what's popular in the stores now."
In their relationship of 21 years, 16 of which they've been married, Jeanie Brostrom said her husband's zeal for this project is unsurprising because he has always been merry during the Christmas season.
She also likes to pitch in and go through the letters.
"It's a lot of fun, especially the ones that really touch your heart," she said, noting no one letter sticks out in her mind. "There are some of those that are just so genuine."
For the first time this year, some of the children who put a letter in the mailbox will get a response from either Mr. or Mrs. Claus, the Brostroms said.
"Santa Claus is busy, but he is going to answer some of them," he said.
"It would be nice if we had more return addresses," his wife said. "But we don't want to make that a big pressure point because Santa knows where everyone lives."
Brostrom said he looks forward to the day when he can hand someone the letter they wrote to Santa as a child.
When asked why, Brostrom said, "I wouldn't mind getting one of my old letters."