Of the nearly 100 000 letters sent to Santa Claus at Tomteboda annually from children around the world, a large percentage of those letters contains many Christmas wishes. A top ten wish list before Christmas is normally dominated by toys, but there are also electronic gadgets such as computers and mobile phones. With children who have not yet learned to write signing their wishes in bright colours.

Action figures of all kinds are also incredibly popular, with favourites including Star Wars, Pet Shop, Pokemon and My Little Pony. In some cases, some children have gone into specifics, listing their desired doll by its name and they normally include names such as Barbie, Bratz and baby dolls.

Other more abstract wishes include a chance to meet a Tooth Fairy, a Thumbelina who understands and speaks Russian and loves pancakes, a zoo with its very own zookeeper as well as the world's largest package.

However, the must have Christmas gift according to kids of both sexes is a computer game of all kinds. Nintendo tops the list of most desirable gaming platform, followed by the Playstation and then the Xbox.

While videogames appeal equally to both sexes, Lego requests from boys are five times more from boys than they are for girls. Topping the pet wishes is the puppy, followed by a rabbit. The turtle comes in a number ten, with 8 out of ten pet wishes coming from girls.

Top Ten Christmas wishes of 2009
1.Computer and video games (including consoles)
2. Lego
3. Pets
4. Pokemon
5. Star Wars
6. Pet Shop
7. Cell Phones
8. Radio Controlled vehicles
9. Car / car tracks
10. Computer

*This list is based on 1000 of the Post Office's randomly selected letters to Santa Claus in Tomteboda in 2009.