While being interviewed, Santa agreed to answer 10 questions. His interviews can be found at:
Interview with Santa, Dec. 2017
Catching Up With Santa, Dec. 2018
1. Santa, what is your favorite cookies?
Well, despite everyone believe I prefer chocolate chips cookies, I really prefer oatmeal raisins or fruitcake cookies. The story about chocolate chip cookies was started by a very creative elf in the public story section who really likes chocolate chip cookies. He realized I bring a lot of cookies back to the North Pole when I return and wanted to make sure I had plenty of chocolate chips. Both the oatmeal raisin and fruitcake cookies contains raisins and nuts and I share all of those with the reindeer,
2. How do you eat all those cookies without getting fatter?
I used to hate the description of me being a “Jolly Old Fat Elf” because I try to eat healthy from January to November. Then I realized it made a perfect cover for when I’m out in the world. Children are all looking for someone a lot heavier, so they sometime don’t recognize me.
There is also the little-known fact that I don’t eat all the cookies. As I said earlier, I take a lot of the cookies back to the North Pole and share with Mrs. Claus and the elves. I also will share the good oatmeal raisin or fruit cake cookies with the reindeer who converts them to the magic energy they need for flying.
Of course, I also like it when I find a carrot or two with the cookies and I feed those to my reindeer also.
3. What’s your favorite drink?
While delivering presents, I do enjoy something to drink. Milk is always good, but sometimes it gets warm before I arrive, so I may not drink it. Hot chocolate is also a favorite but sometimes it gets cold. I also appreciate a nice glass of water occasionally.
I don’t drink alcohol when operating the sleigh, so please don’t leave beer, wine or liquor out for me.
4. How do you get into houses without chimneys? For that matter, how do you get up and down the chimneys anyway?
Like my magic bag which holds all the presents, my stocking cap is also magic. To go down a chimney, I just pull one time on the fluffy ball. To go up the chimney, I pull twice. The bag automatically shrinks to go through the chimney.
To be honest, I don’t really have to go through chimneys much. At one time, most houses didn’t even have chimneys, they just had high windows which were kept open so the smoke would exit. Once people started locking doors several hundred years ago, the elves and fairies made me a magic key that allows me to go through doors. I wear the key on my belt and just hold it as I go through the door.
5. Is your beard real?
I know where that question is leading. Yes, my beard is real. Yes, it is white. Yes, it – and the white fur on my suit – sometimes appears to be a dirty gray. The reason for that is sometimes chimneys are not as clean as they could be, and I pick up the soot going through them. Then there are always the times when a fire in a fireplace and I land wrong and kick up some of the ashes.
If I have enough time between houses, one of the elves will brush it all off. For some reason the magic refuses to do the cleaning.
6. If you’re the real Santa, who are all those other guys running around in your suit?
If I was a Transformer, my name would be Santa Prime. Most of the other guys are also Santa, but they are more or less clones. Look, while I’m magical, I still can’t be everyplace at one time because I would be too tiny to be seen. So, what I do is touch each of the Santa’s and infuse them with my spirit. Some have natural white beards, some have beards that aren’t so white. Some have beards and wigs that are made for them. I have some who are women and they are known as Mrs. Claus. Some of them have different skin colors and come from different countries because Christmas isn’t about race or heritage – it’s about believing and giving.
The important thing to know is that they are all “real” Santa’s because being Santa is about having the magic in your heart.
7. Why is your suit always red?
Well, it really goes back to before I became Santa Claus. My real name is Nikolas and I was a Bishop in an area of Greece called Myra, which later became part of Turkey. Since my robes were red and trimmed in white, I just kept those colors. The red suits most people know didn’t really come about until centuries later.
Anyway, in some areas of the world, my suits look different and are green instead of red.
8. Do you really live at the North Pole?
Yes. All three of them. Our main and largest compound is at the True North Pole at the top of the world. We also have a smaller unit at the Magnetic North Pole. That’s the one usually finds if they go looking for it and it moves around a lot. Then there is North Pole, Alaska which is actually our mail and shipping facility disguised as our community. It has its own postal zip code (99705) and it’s where all the mail sent to me goes. It’s also more or less, a tourist spot which we have decorated for Christmas all year.
9. Do you really have a naughty and nice list?
I just have a very long nice list of children because I believe all children to be good at heart. The nicer a child is, the higher they are on my list. Those who are lower on the list still get presents though.
The idea of a naughty list is something thought up by adults to threaten children into doing or acting like the adult wants them to. That and some greedy adult thought it would make good lyrics for a song… You better watch out. You better not Cry. Better not pout, I’m telling you why.
10. Does Mrs. Claus ever help you deliver presents?
Of course, she does! Primarily she is in charge of operations and support and makes sure everything runs smoothly. She sits at the operation center and watches the weather for example. If a storm is in my path, she will send a message to the sleigh and reindeer and steer us around it. If we need to alter our path, she lets us know so we stay on schedule. So, her job is very important.
On top of that, we have a back-up sleigh loaded and ready to go just in case we start falling behind schedule. Mrs. Claus will then put on her cloak and start making deliveries to get us back on track. Her back-up in the operations center is one of our oldest elves, Felix.
© J. Gibson Creative Services. December 19, 2018
