Germany's Santa and the Christkind were the proud recipients of over 450,000 letters from children around the world this year -- around 100,000 more than last year.

The two cosmopolitan heavenly entities thus surpassed more worldly rivals such as the German chancellor and talk show superstar Harald Schmidt in terms of holiday fan mail. The Christkind, a kind of baby Jesus who leaves presents under the tree on Christmas Eve in German lore, was originally introduced in the 16th century by religious reformer Martin Luther.

The flood of mail, the first letters of which began arriving in summer, turned into a huge logistical task for Deutsche Post. The German postal service set up numerous special Christmas branches throughout the country to cope with the onslaught and the largest one, in Himmelpfort in the state of Brandenburg, alone received some 250,000 letters. Deutsche Post's oldest Christmas branch was set up in 1967 in the Himmelsthür district of Hildesheim.

Deutsche Post said in a statement that the share of letters pouring in from abroad had more than doubled this year. "Santa replies in 11 languages," it said. That includes English, French, Russian and Polish. Lithuanian, Danish and Bulgarian were added this year.

The letters reflected children's wishes, from the pragmatic to the romantic: in addition to the usual electronic toys and gadgets, some simply penciled in a "white Christmas" on the wish list or even a considerate "magic wand to bring the gifts so Santa doesn't have to lug so much."