SANTA CLAUS, Ind. - The U.S. Post Office delivers letters addressed to Santa Claus to zip code 47579.

It's the postal services' numerical designation for Santa Claus, Ind., a town of 2,200 in Spencer County where Abe Lincoln spent time as a boy.

Folks in Santa Claus know how to celebrate the Christmas holidays, beginning with the 2007 Christmas in Santa Claus Festival on Dec. 8 and 9. Have a pancake breakfast with Santa, then see him arrive for the Christmas parade on the afternoon of Dec. 8. The parade has about 70 units, including bands from area schools.

An arts and crafts fair is held at two locations.

In your spare time, tour Santa's Candy Castle that was opened by the Curtis Candy Co., makers of Baby Ruth and Butterfinger candy bars, in the mid-1930s.

The business now offers what it says is the world's largest selection of candy canes.

Visit the Santa Claus Museum and see how people in the past celebrated the holidays. Enjoy a trip to view the Festival of Lights at nearby Christmas Lake Village.

About 10,000 people attend the festival each year.

Visitors also can visit the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial operated by the National Park Service.

The memorial is located on land that once was the farm of Thomas Lincoln, the future president's father.

The Lincoln family moved there in 1816 when Abe was 7. The family resettled to Illinois when he was 21. The site is open year-round.

Take your Christmas cards along when you visit Santa Claus, Ind.

The village holds an annual contest to design the annual Santa Claus postmark which volunteers at the post office will happily apply to your mail.

Kids can write to Santa at Santa Claus, P.O. Box 1, Santa Claus, Ind., 47579. Santa's Elves will see to it the jolly fat man gets the message and they'll send a letters and response. Parents, make sure the return address is legible. Up to 10,000 letters are answered every Christmas.

"Children have been sending letters to our town for more than a century," said Patricia Koch, who is on the board of Santa's Elves Inc., the non-profit organization formed in 1974 to ensure postage costs are provided for the effort each year.

"Our records show that the first person to answer the children's letters to Santa was the Santa Claus Postmaster, James Martin, in the year 1914. We've not missed a year since."

Can't make it to Santa Claus that weekend?

Visit the nearby Rockport Christmas Festival, which continues today. Located about 20 miles south of Santa Claus, Rockport's event also includes a breakfast with Santa, a Christmas at the Library program, a parade and craft show. Rockport is home to a lighted Christmas Star mounted 150 feet high on a bluff overlooking the Ohio River.

Visit www.legendaryplaces.org/Christmas for more information.