Assistant Town Clerk Dot Grady puts out miniature candy canes Tuesday for the letters to Santa display at the Chelsea Town Office. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

CHELSEA — Will children in Chelsea make the naughty or nice list?

Starting Dec. 1, children in town can submit their letters to Santa and get a reply back from the North Pole, otherwise known as the Chelsea Town Office.

Chelsea Town Manager Christine Landes, left, and Assistant Town Clerk Dot Grady set up Christmas decorations Tuesday at the Chelsea Town Office. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

The effort, spearheaded by part-time town clerk Dot Grady, is new this year, but Grady is always looking for ways to give back to the community.

Not only is the event fun for children to do with their parents, but it’s a way the town can assess the needs in the community.

“It’s a tool that can be used for helping,” she said.

Grady plans to decorate a box outside of the town office with a Christmas theme, where children can drop their letters.

If they want a reply from the North Pole, families are asked to fill out a return envelope so Santa can find their home.

In order to make the event work, Grady asked members of the committees she is a part of to help by volunteering their time.

Town office staffers converted the little free library into a seasonal Letters to Santa display, seen Tuesday at the Chelsea Town Office. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

“We purchased the stationery for the nice list and the envelopes so they all match, and we will have different authors responding. If we don’t get a lot of letters, it will just be the office staff, but if we do get a lot, we have four volunteers ready to help,” she said.

Christmas is Grady’s favorite holiday and she has incorporated the season of giving back to a 12 Months of Giving program in town that started this year.

Each month has a different charity or cause to give back to, and people are asked to bring in donations to the town office. One month raised $1,110 for heating assistance in town and another collected bags on top of bags of pet food for pet owners in the community.

Grady won the Spirit of America Award in 2023 with her husband, Scott Grady, for the hours of volunteering they have given to the town.

“I love Christmas — my first tree is already up,” Grady said. “We put up four trees, small ones. Three are artificial and then the real one has the presents that go under it. My grandchildren get a kick out of it and asked to have a Grinch tree this year.”

Grady is far from a Christmas grinch: she is helping the town host the annual Christmas Social from 2 to 7 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 8,  where the community is invited to have finger foods and refreshments, write Christmas letters to veterans, and then listen to carolers at 5:30 p.m. and attend the town tree-lighting at 6 p.m.

Most of the town office staff — including Christine Landes, the town manager — will dress as characters from the North Pole.

“I am very excited about it … Chelsea doesn’t have a town center, or whatever you want to call it, so one of the things when we began as an Age-Friendly organization and started offering community events, was to make the town office our center. That’s what we have had to work with and it’s worked out well,” Grady said.

Letters to Santa will start on Dec. 1 and children have until Dec. 14 to get a reply from the North Pole.