BELLE — White’s Motor Company has teamed with Double L Country Store to bring the spirit of Santa and Christmas to Belle.

“I love Christmas,” said Daryl White Jr. (White).

Daryl White Sr. and his son White came up with the postal boxes to Santa last year when they saw the big postal boxes on sale at Lowes.

“Last year, they put out these giant mailboxes at Lowes — it looks like a giant postal mailbox and they was real expensive and dad and I kept looking at them,” White said. “After Christmas, we bid on a bunch of stuff from the close out sale and won them. We wrapped them in plastic to keep them from getting dirty and stored them above the shop.”

White said they were anxious to bring the boxes out in July, but determined that they would wait until Christmas. Now that Christmas is here, they have them unwrapped and in sight.

“We have got a mailbox here and at Double L Country Store,” White said. “We are going to sit it outside starting this week and they can drive right up to our place, put in a letter with your address on it and we will have someone respond to if for Santa, then send it back out to ya.”

No postage is necessary. If parents want the letter back, they can drop a note or phone number in the envelope or call and ask to pick them up.

“We have only got 12 or 15 so far,” White said. “Not many, but we are still a ways out.”

They also plan to have the box set up near the Alvarado Avenue and Third Street intersection on Dec. 19 during the Christmas parade, even though officially they have asked parents and kids to have their letters “mailed” by Dec. 17.

White’s Motor Company has only set out the box during business hours, but Double L Country Store, owned by Lisa Halbert, is open late.

“We have gotten several letters and will send responses at the same time,” Halbert said Tuesday afternoon. “I counted 12 in the last couple of days. Of course, this is the first year and it is slow. We are going to start responding on the 15th.”

Once Santa receives the letter, he will respond to let children know the letter has been received and to keep being good. Decisions about the naughty and nice lists aren’t made until right before Santa leaves.

“If they want it back, drop back by or send a note and we will send them back as well,” Halbert said. “Especially if some of the grandparents are sending it in.”

Halbert said they would like to make the Santa drop-off box a yearly event.

“We want these kids to come back from college and say ‘oh, my gosh the box is still here!’ Something that becomes a ritual that Belle has. I plan on staying here and I want this to be someplace — I want to hear some little guy now 6’ 4 and 200 pounds to say ‘I put a letter in the Santa box when I was a kid.’”

White said that as the deadline gets closer and weather permitting, they may leave the postal mailbox in front of the garage until 8 or 9 p.m. for the late drop-offs.

“For anyone who drops off letters at the parade, we will still send responses,” White said. “We won’t hold it against you for being two days late!”