My Interview With Santa…
First of all, thanks for taking this time to chat with me. I know it’s your busy season.
It’s my pleasure, although I might have to dash off if one of the elves texts me from the work shop…we’ve been having some IT issues and in this digital age these kind of things can make or break Christmas.
How has technology made your job easier?
Well let’s just say this, we used to have warehouses filled to the brim with hand written versions of the “nice” and “naughty” lists. It took up WAY too much space and the north pole interns would get hand cramps jotting down all the info that we need. Now…it’s all on my laptop!
So there really is a “naughty” list?
OK…I’m going to let you in a HUGE secret…you’re getting a world exclusive here…there are NO naughty children. We just use the term “the naughty list” as a way to make kids think about how they behave. In reality, the two kinds of lists that we DO have speak to two different types of children. The first list includes the kids who don’t have many behavioral issues. We don’t worry too much about them. Second, we have the kids who are maybe struggling a little bit with certain things. So we put those children on a separate list. We keep an extra close watch over them and we make note of when they behave well, even when many other people don’t notice. Every child deserves to get something special on Christmas morning.
And just how are you able to watch over all the children of the world
Nowadays, we do it in many different ways. Parents can email us all year round telling us how their children are managing. What I’m really proud of is the growth of our EOTS division, you might know it as the Elf on the Shelf. That team does a fantastic job of doing some great eyes on the ground work for us. The messages they send back to the North Pole at this time of year are invaluable. We’re also currently exploring the idea of having the reindeer do random “fly overs” at different points of the year. They’d have a type of recording device that actually picks up on the status of each specific child and how they’re coming along well ahead of Christmas, but we’re still working out the logistics and the magic on that one.
Rapid fire time…
Favourite Christmas song?
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town of course!
Favourite reindeer?
I can’t pick just one of them. Everyone expects me to say Rudolph, but then the other 8 get jealous. “He has his own song and his own TV special…while we only get mentioned once in an old poem and we’re all lumped together.” It’s a thing with them.
Favourite cookie?
My next one!
What kind of milk do you prefer?
Do I LOOK like I drink skimmed?
Favourite thing to do after Christmas?
Take a long tropical vacation with Mrs. Claus. We enjoy getting away from the North Pole for awhile and reconnecting. The children get so much of my attention most of the time. She deserves to feel appreciated too!
And lastly, are you looking forward to riding in the Fort Frances Christmas Parade this year?
I love riding in any parade! It gives me the chance to see the kids before Christmas Eve. I like to observe for myself how they’re doing before our big night. Fort Frances is sometimes as cold as The North Pole so I always feel like I’m at home when I come to town. I can’t wait to see everyone at the parade!
