According to Santa Claus, people today are greedier than they were 100 years ago.
A 1915 letter from a child to Santa Clause that went viral asks for three simple things: some paint, candy and a new school bag.
"Now they have a more serious intent," Pete Fontana, "chief elf" of the United States Post Office's Letters to Santa department, told Yahoo! Shine. "People talk about how they're poor, are living on low incomes- some even send their tax returns to prove it," he said.
Fontana is the head of the 101-year-old department for 16 years.
The most common wishes from Santa in 1905 were candy, storybooks, apples, nuts, raisins, oranges and Christmas trees, according to letters published in Atlanta's Constitution newspaper. That was back when less than 10 percent of houses in the U.S. had electricity and the average life expectancy was 47 years, Yahoo! Shine reported.
"I want you to bring me some goodies and some toys but I don't want much for myself, but I want you to bring Uncle Si a good mule...," one boy wrote. "Please send Si a good mule. If you don't, bring me nothing," Yahoo! Shine reported.
By the 1940s, kids were asking Santa for more lavish presents.
"Please bring me a large doll in a bridesmaid gown, a blackboard, colored chalk, a nice book bag, some games and dear Santa, I would like to have a permanent wave. Don't forget my brother and sister. Thank you," wrote Brenda Lee Bassford in the 1947 issue of the Capital, Yahoo! Shine reported.
Santa letters from the '70s show kids started to up the ante with requests for brand named toys instead of general ones.
In one letter from a 1994 issue of the Galveston Daily News, Candace Johnson wanted an Easy-Bake Oven, a Katie Kiss 'n Giggles doll, a Tiffany styling doll and some McDonald's, Yahoo! Shine reported.
A picture of the 1915 letter and more Christmas demands from each decade here.
