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"Dear Father Christmas," the letter reads, "my name is Larissa. I know that you are very busy and that you live a long way away in the North Pole, but I'd like to ask you for a gift because my mother doesn't have enough money to buy what I want."

There are piles of similar letters — many decorated with stickers, drawings and hand prints — lying on makeshift tables in the main hall of the post office in downtown Sao Paulo.

Another letter, this one from a 10-year-old boy, reads: "My mother died when I was a young baby, I live with my brother and my father. But this Christmas he can't work because he's in the hospital."

A group of women sift through them, looking to choose one. Sonia Regina de Sa, a nurse's assistant, says she's been doing this every year for nine years.

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