No! And for a very simple reason. There is no Competition! Fact is, that with his presents Santa Claus wants us to remind the presents the Wise men from the East brought for that one Special Child. The Spirit of Christmas is all about to remember the people that Jesus was born and to remember his message that one has to be good for his neighbors and fellowmen and to live in peace with them. And that if we all teach our children, that giving makes happier as taking and that helping makes happier as allways wanting to be the number one, that such behaviour will be the first step on the path to real peace.

Well we have to give some facts before we give the final answer.
In the old days the people knew that the Yule man and Father Christmas (der Weihnachtsmann) came from the High North, from the Great Forrests nearby the polarcircle. When the first Santa Claus started visiting the people, on request of the Fairies, he also did live in those woods ("Von drausen aus den Walder da komme ich her" says the German Weihnachtsmann ever still ("From outside, out of the woods/forrests, that's where I come from"). But when he did start to use reindeers for his sleigh, he had to go live much more to the North, on the tundra’s of Lapland, because reindeers don't like to live in the woods. And so Santa Claus lives most of the time of the year in Lapland on the Tundras, except for vacations AND !! except for DECEMBER.
Among the Gnomes there are several breeds/tripes, such as Wood-Gnomes who live in the big woods and inthe old forrests, the Home- and Garden-Gnomes (Heinzelmanchen/Nisse/Gartenzwerg) who like to live near humans, and so you have also the SnowGnomes who love to live in areas with lots of snow. The SnowGnomes are the longest breed among the Gnomes. Were the other Gnomes are between 10-40 cm hight, the SnowGnomes, due to their relations with the dwarf are 60-120 cm hight. With their bigger bodies they are better equiped against the cold and due to their higher length they can also beter walk through to snow. For a Gnome with 18 cm Hight, a layer of snow 15 cm thick would reachup until his neck and on the Northpole the snowlayer is often more as 25 cm. Because of their Length the Snow-Gnomes are often mistaken to be Cobolds, but they are realy real Gnomes!
Snowgnomes get their magic from fresh fallen snowcrystals and from a special Lichen which only grows in Polartemperatures. That's why these SnowGnomes are living in a hidden Gnomes-village (Polar City) near the Northpole. The SnowGnomes were the Gnomes who offered Santa their help by the toymaking and that is why Santa Claus in december lives in Polar City near the Northpole were the SnowGnomes live. This way he can check the lists with names and the Presents and check of there is the correct present for everybody. This keeps him very busy those last weeks before Christmas.
There is another reason why Santa in December lives near the Northpole and that has to do with the delivery of the presents, but that will be explained in the answer on another question (question 69).
Santa himself often says (with a wink): "I live near the Northpole, because I'm allergic to penquins, they are very funny animals, but they make me sneeze. Because they live on the southpole, I live on the Northpole." The penguins do like this joke so much, that everytime they hear it, they slide controles by laughing of the iceplates. (Don't you get the joke?? First Santa says he wants to live as far away from the penquins as possible: North pole <> South pole. But they know he likes pequins very much. Second: Penguins do not create dust, skinrests or feathers that can make one sneeze. It's Santa's way to hide te reason why he lives on the Northpole in december. (Ho, hoh hoo! )

No, Santa Claus is not a saint, the part Santa does come from Saint, from one of his familynames, namely StNicholas. (spoken in German language is that 'Sankt Nikolaus'= Sankt Claus), were it later became Santa insted of Sankt because Santa has a much friendlier sound.
One could say: Today Santa Claus is the name (title) of his job. He can have the name Nicholas St Nicholas or Kris Kringle or another and he is Santa Claus. Just like for example a mister John Johnsen can be a Mayor, then they would say: "Look, there comes the Mayor" and not "Look, there comes John Johnsen". So also "Look, there comes Santa (Claus)".

Santa Claus has several christian names, most of the time he prefers to be called Claus (from Nicholas), but he listen also to the names Christoffer (Kriss), Nick (Nicholas) or Noël, they are also official registrated. His familyname is St.Nicholas, but in the U.S.A. and in Germany the familyname Kringle is also registrated.
Next to several Christian names and several Familynames, Santa has also several Jobnames (titles) So you may call him: Santa Claus, but also, Nicholas (Nick) St.Nicholas or Kriss Kringle and also Father Christmas, Père Noël, Weihnachtsmann and 'de Kerstman'.

Pitty enough, yes it can!! When in the whole world there would be no one anymore who does believe in the Spirit of Christmas, no one who is willing to make something special from Christmas, no one who is willing to do something kind to his fellowman, if there is not one child anymore that does believe in Santa Claus, Yes, then the flame of 'Christmas Spirit' will weaken and eventually even extinguish and than Santa Claus will stop existing.
But there will be a Santa Claus and he will stay existing, as long as there are children (and adults) who believe in his existence and as long as there are (young and old) people who want to keep the 'Spirit of Christmas' alive.

Oh yes, Sure! Every time a child (or an adult) says loud "I believe in the 'Christmas Spirit'" or "I believe in Father Christmas" or "I believe in Santa Claus", and when they deep inside do really mean that, then that will not only strengthen the power of the 'Christmas Spirit', but it will straightway spread a little of the magic of Christmas around them.
You can see that on the faces of the people who are with them on that moment, they will have a smile on their faces and often behave jolly.

How old Santa Claus is, is a little bit difficult to determine.
It started with Father Christmas/Père Noël/der Weihnachtsmann and they do exist for centuries now (from before the 3th century), so by that calculation he would be at least 1700 years old.
Much later the Job was taken care of by Santa Claus, and he is doing so since the beginning of the years 1700, so by that calculation he would be around 300 years old.
And still no correct solution, becasue Santa Claus is not a Saint and therefore does not have everlasting live. He also in not one of the Old-Fairies (like the first Father Christmas is) and also not a Newborn-Elf (as his helpers are), but a Human lik us. Therefore he can not live several hundreds of years, and he will retire at the latest when he turns 100 according to his human age. Since he must be at least 25 years old before he could become Santa, a Santa can be Santa for up to 75 years.Not every Santa completes those 75 years, some because they were older when they started, others because they quit earlier.
Yet every Santa is an old man, because the Elfs told us that every Santa Claus must be older as 100 year, because according to the Elf laws, only then he would be an adult. And therefore only then have the rights to lead the other Elfs and Gnomes. They have the following solution for that: Every new Santa Claus, when he starts as Santa, wil age 100 Elfyears above his previous human age. Suppose, his human age before he became Santa Claus, was 40 years, then as Santa Claus he would be 140 years. And that age he will keep as long as he is Santa Claus is. If Santa stops beeing Santa Claus (retirement or other reason) then he gets his human age back, suppose he was 30 when he started and he stops after 50 years, then as Santa Claus he is 130 years and then he starts again as a human at age 80 and a year is added every year.
How old the present Santa (the 25th Santa) is nobody would tell us.
Anyway, it is clear that Santa Claus is allways between 125 and 200 years old and therefore he is always older as your grandfather's father or your grandmother's mother would be.
And that is exactly the answer the Elfs did give us.

Santa Claus says he will never tell where he is born, so we will never know.
For most people Santa looks like a white man with grey-blue eyes, but if on a visit all the persons present there expact him to have a coloured skin, then he will appear with a coloured skin. It's the Spirit of Christmas that does this.
Santa says he is forgotten what his native language was. When he is with the Gnomes and the Elfs he almost always speaks Sindarin. Sindarin is one of the two welknow elf-languages. Quenyan is the language of the Fairies and the High Elfs from Valinor. Sindarin is the language of the newborn (normal) Elfs who live on Earth. Sindarin has a very special feature. It sounds to every human and animal almost the same as their native language. That's why everybody can understand Santa and why everybody can talk with Santa. And so it look like Santa is speaking all laguages. Sometimes there is one little problem which happends if a group of people is speaking different languages at the same time. In such cases it can happen that Santa is not understanding everything as good as he should or that we get the impression that what he is answering us is spoken in different languages. The Magic of the Sindarin is then slightly offtrack.

Yeah, Every Santa Claus has (or had) parents, Sometimes they were the previous Mr and Mrs Claus, sometimes they were other people, but who they were, is also something most Santa do not tell. Simply to protect their privacy.
Yeah, sometimes a Santa Claus had brothers and sisters before he became Santa Claus. And offcourse they stayed his brothers and sisters after he became Santa Claus, but they never lived as long Santa Claus himself did, so after a while (in Santa's eyes a to short time) he did loose them, That is something that makes him sad, therefore he does not like to speak about that. With any luck he will have cousins still. And offcourse he does look at the grand-nephews and second-cousins of previous Santa's as if they where his own. Because he has inherated the memories of of them and the feelings for them from those previous Santa's. So yes, Santa Claus does have family.

Sometimes he has, sometimes he hasn't. There have been Santas who had children and there have been Santas who had no children. That is the reason you can here stories about a Santa who did not have children as wel as stories about a son or daughter from Santa. En both stories can be totaly true. There is hardly a holiday time that you wont see human-children walking and playing in the Elf village, those children are mostly the (great-)(grand-)children or cousins of a previous Santa Claus.
Although it's very rare that an average human get permission to visit Santa Claus at home (Polar City or Santa Ville), the family of (a previous) Santa Claus is always welcome.
If the present Santa has children is something he would not say. He said: "All children on the whole world are my children". Santa does love it very much to sit down be the fireplace with a nice cup of tea or a mug with chocolatemilk, listening Christmasmusic, reading the letters that the children did send him.

Long(er) hair was normal in the time when the first Santa Claus began, and older man wore often a beard in those days. Besides that, such a beard keeps your throat and neck nicely warm on the Northpole. That was the reason why de first Santa Claus dis wear a beard and his successors are still doing the same. Like the previous Santas also today's Santa Claus is very proud on his beard, so it is fair to say: Santa will always wear a beard!

Santa Claus has several hobby's. He is very fund of reading, listening to music (especialy Christmas music), watching Christmas movies, working and playing with animals, tinker, woodcarving, drawing and painting and building nice statues with snow or ice. For example, he can build snowmen who do like to be alive and reindeers from ice who look as they can run/fly away any moment.
In Polar City Santa does not have a garden except for snow and ice statues. In Santa Ville he does have a garden around his house and he does the maintenance with help of the Elfs, but there are no special or rare things in his garden (is Santa's opinion). We were impressed though by the shrubs trimmed in shapes of all kind of animals, such as a dubble line of shrubs trimmed in the shape of the reindeers and the sleigh. On top of that, there do walk and fly several real animals free around in his garden. From butterfly's and singing birds to chickens, rabits, squirls and so on.
To our opinion Santa's garden is nothing less as a small paradise.

Yes, Santa does follow the news of the world on television, but most of it he knows already through the Elfs-News-service. The television is mostly used for watching Christmas movies, together with mrs Claus. Christmas movies are their favorite movies, apart from child movies, Fairytale and/or fantasie movies.

Santa does have several suits. They are made by the Gnomes. It is necessary that he does have several suits, because when Santa does get wet on a rainy visit, then he can change into a dry suit for the next visit. And ofcourse Santa likes to wear a clean suit every day.
Nowadays the look of the suit depends on how mrs Claus did design it. They do vary a little bit sometimes, some have more garnishing as others, but overal they very much the same.
In the early days Santa did also often wear green suits, and sometimes brown or blue. That were yet old suits from Father Christmas, the did not make Santa Claus stand out much, which was exactly what Father Christmas wanted for himself. But since Mrs Claus is designing the suits, now all suits are red, because that is the favoriete colour of mrs Claus. She find it to be a warm and festive colour is and she says that the children can recognize Santa now much easier when he happens to be standing in a group of people.

Well ... Santa Claus has several suits, so that gives already a difference, than Santa wears sometimes thicker clothes (in countries where the temperature is colder) and at other times thinner clothes (e.g. in Africa), which also gives a difference in how thick or how thin he seems to be. And a thinner Santa seems longer, just as a thicker Santa seems shorter.
But above all, Santa is always trying to look the same way the children believe that he looks like. Due to the Elvish magic Santa can adopt different guises. That is why Santa one time is a bit thicker and larger than the other times and why he wears glasses now and then and other times not.

Yes, but it does happen very rarely. Actually only if he is on holiday. Then he wears regular clothes because he does notwant to stand out (being incognito, it's called). But at those regular clothes the color is always largely red.

When Santa Claus did start to use not only a list, but to use also a special book, is not public knowledge. Yes, Santa Claus does know it and else he could read it in the first Large Book. But his opinion is that we do not need to know it. And to be honest, he is right. What he did want to tell us is: In the early years he could do a couple of years with one Large Book. But because more and more people do send their wishes to him, and because things in the world do change much quicker now as they did before (People moving to other homes or places, naughty children became nice or nice kids did naughty things a.s.o., the list and the Large Book had to be altered to much and to often. It started to look like shoddy work and Santa does not like shoddy work. That is why he did start to use a new List and a new Large Book every year. And now he has even more as 1 in one Year, because today he has 1 for every country.
Nowadays the Large Book has many new volumes every year. There is, for example, 1 Volume for each State in the USA, 1 for the Netherlands, 1 for Japan, etc. Each volume will only be used for 1 year (1 year old?), then comes a new one and the old one goes to the archive of Santa Claus, where Santa can still read them if he wants to.

No! Santa Claus does know a great lot, but not really, really everthing. Knowing everything is something only God does and Santa Claus is and was always just a human. But Santa sees, hears and read a lot and the same goes for his Elfs and Gnomes. Whether it is on television, for the radio, or in the newspapers or in a letter somebody did send to Santa Claus. Everything is read, heard and judged. The things they find important, wil be noted in the Large Book. So, even when not everything is noted in the Large Book, there still is a very great lot of info in the Large Book.

For many years now there is the popular Christmas tradition of children who write letters to Santa Claus. They do this mainly to tell him that they have been good in the past year and to send to Santa a list of gifts they would like to receive. The list can mention only 1 gift but also several wishes. There is a remarkable difference in the letters from boys and those from girls. Girls are more caring and often wish something for others, they are more polite in their letters and they write more letters and are more thoughtful and generous in their appreciation for all the hard work that Santa does. Boys usely only ask for some presents for themselfs in their letters.
In Scandinavia and large parts of England there was the traditional habit that the letters for Santa (and Father Christmas) were thrown into the fire for their shipping, so they went up in flames and the smoke would go through the chimneys and could be blown by the wind to the North Pole. Because small children should not play with fire and not play close to fire, the children gave these letters to their parents, so that they could throw the letters into the fire.
Because later most homes had no fireplace or stove anymore (central heating system) the parents started to sent these letters over the post. It was also around this time that it became known that Santa in december did live at the North Pole, so the letters were adressed to "Santa Claus, c/o Northpole". Unfortunately, some letters got lost that way. In many Post offices it was not known in which country that "Northpole" should lie. And so letters were sometimes delivered on the most strange places. And sometimes they were not delivered at all or they did came years later.
Nowadays is that better regulated, in many countries there are postal services which enable the children to send letters to Santa Claus. This Post services have a special postal address created for the letters send to Santa Claus. Now in those countries the Elfs only have to visit 1 address (post office) to collect the letters. This does save a whole lot of trouble and in those countries there never gets a letter lost anymore and those letters are therefore also never too late in Santa's office.
All letters are read by the Post-office-Elfs, if it's a very normal letter then the Elfs take care of it and handle the case themselfs, if it's a letter that needs special treatment or special attention then the Elfs put it on Santa's desk, so Sant will read and handle it.

This tradition already existed at the Yulefeest. Then the Yule-man even came sometimes in company of Elfs and/or Gnomes.
Because Santa Claus really can not do everything himself (not at all without the Elfs magic), therefore the Old Fairies (Mother Earth=Mother Hulda, the Forest King=Yuleman, King Winter=Holly King, Sandman, Father Time) did ask the Elfs and Gnomes to help Santa Claus. And the Elfs and Gnomes found it such a nice job, that they never want to stop with it.

Polar City is a SnowGnomes village, so of course there are also female Gnomes and Gnome-children. The same applies for the Elfs in Santa Ville. Santa doesn't look at whether someone is a man or a woman, but at what he/she can. So yes, there are both male and female Elfs and Gnomes helping Santa.
Many Gnome- and Elf-kids like to become a Christmas-Elf or Christmas Gnome when they are growen up. So in addition to their ordinary school, they attend also the school for Santa's Christmas helpers. That means that they are also doing practical training and some small chores.

'Hoho hoo' means actually the same as 'Giddy-up little Horse, Giddy-up' or 'Giddy-up-go,' or 'yippyaye' or 'and now full steam ahead'. It is the Elfvish way to show that your are doing your atmost best and/or to show that you have a good time. The Elfs use it to encourage animals or even others Elfs. When there is an Elfs game, you hear nothing else as Hoho hoo. Elfs almost never laugh, at least not simmilair to the way people laugh, so laughing like "hahahaha' or 'hihihihi' they did not know at first. Elfs laugh inside, without making a sound. You only can see it in their eyes when they are laughing. The first time Santa did laugh 'haha haa', they in fact thought that he screamed 'aha haa' and that he shad hurt himself. That is why Santa has changed his laughing in Hoho hoo of Yoho hoo so the Elfs could know that he had the greatest fun. And now Santa is so used to this that he almost every time does laugh in this way. But so now and then he will have a soft haha haa laugh still, specially near very little children.

Santa does like all Elfs and Gnomes equally.
He has but one favorite and that's no Elf or Gnome, but that's Mrs. Claus.

Yeah sure, we have already told you that they are big collectors, and sometimes they 'collect' something that was not their property. So, for example, the Gnomes are infamous socks thieves!
The Gnomes also like to make practical jokes. For example they turn the cap of the tube of toothpaste, they do so because they find the Peppermint taste very delicious. Just turning the cap back on the tube they do not and this is on purpose, because people then blame each other. And then the Gnomes have great fun.

Santa Claus has a sleigh because this is a very handy (and environmentally friendly) means of transport. With a sleigh, you never run out of petrol and you can transport a lot of presents in the back of the sleigh. And a sleigh does hardly get stuck in the snow. In short, benefits enough.
Santa has many more vehicles, because outside Christmas Eve he must also can come anywhere in the world. But his favorite vehicle is and remains the sleigh, because that is the cutest and most powerful and romantischste means of transport, that exists.

A female reindeer weighs between 132 and 308 pound, and a male reindeer weighs between 208 and 440 pound. But there are also sometimes heavier males, there has been a male reindeer which weighed 700 pound!
Males are also larger than the females. Reindeer are over 3.28 feet high. Males have at the larynx a fist-sized, inflatable skin bag. This works as an audio amplifier.
The fur color of a reindeer varies from white to almost black. They have a double fur. The Undercoat is made up of fuzzy hairs, the outer coat is made of hollow air-filled guard hairs. The feet are deep and wide spread. The hooves are broadened and have a hollow underside and therefore they give a secure hold on slippery surfaces, like snow and ice, and in swamps. When they are walking then the tendons in the legs of the reindeer make a clicking sound. Due to this clicking sound the animals can follow each other in the dark. And so even in the polar night, when the reindeer cannot see each other, the herd remains together.

The males lose the antlers in December or January, females lose their antlers in May. In this period the females with the largest antlers are the boss.
Because off the flying-powder that is done in their food the reindeer that pull the sleigh won't lose their antlers before January.

In the summer, the reindeer grazing mostly on the tundra, but if they are at the North Pole in the stable in the Gnomesdorp, they get hay, water and special feed kibble. Because just as your own animals, the reindeer may eat only kibble specially made for them. Santa Claus also gives the reindeer sometimes the special reindeer cookies. And the reindeer are also crazy about roots and oats.
And in the 2 weeks prior to the Christmas night the reindeer that pull the sleigh also get the special flypowder through their food.

No, a Moose (Elk) is a whole different deer species and also looks very different. And no, Santa has no Elk for the sleigh.

reindeer

Moose (Elk)

How many reindeer Santa has is not exactly known, there are a few young ones born every year, and every now and then some old reindeer die. But the whole herd is easily more as one hundred and twenty reindeer. Reindeer reach an average age of 10 years old, but in Santa's herd they go retire as they on the age of 7 years. ( Here you can find more info over (the normal) reindeer. )

Yes, in principal they can. They all learn to pull the sleigh on the ground, so they all are broken in to pull the sleigh through the snow on the ground, but only the best ones are used to pull the sleigh through the sky on Christmas Eve.

We have already told you (question 4) that the reindeer most of the year are not living at the North Pole but that they wander through Lapland. Santa takes to Polar City just those reindeer with him that he needs for the sleigh. That's a total of 20-25 reindeer. Those are the 1st sleigh-team, the 2nd sleigh-team, some spare reindeer, and ofcourse, Rudolph. The other reindeer stay in Lapland. Reindeer are accustomed to cold weather, they even like it, but indeed even reindeer need protection against the weather at the North Pole. In the month of December they life therefore in a cosy barn with different boxes (stables).

The reindeer can not fly by themselfes, they need flyingpowder. Only the reindeer that pull the sleigh on Christmas Eve get the special flying powder mixed in their food, that makes that they and the sleigh can fly. At the sleigh the flyingpowder is mixed through the paint with which the sleigh is painted and it is mixed through the glue of the wood joints.
That flying powder consists of a mixture of Star powder (This fluorescent star powder is also one of the causes of the northern lights), and magical lichens which grow only in the Norwegian Arctic. Only the Elfs know where these mosses grow and how they must be mixed with the starpowder to get the magic flying powder. (So is it also the little Elf Tinkerbel, that Peter Pan and his boys does fly with her own flying powder).
So no, not all reindeer of Santa can fly. Only the reindeer that get the flyingpowder (flydust). And Yes, they are special reindeer because they have had a special training program, and not every reindeer is suitable for that.

The reindeer get their names from the Elfs. The reindeer have different names, for example, there is one that was born in a field of daisies and therefore named Daisy. Another is called Oakleaf because the white spot on his forehead, has the form of an oakleaf. And there are many other names that say something about where, when or how they are born. So is the reindeer girl Frida born on a Friday. Or they get a name that says something about their character, for example Vice and Rascal, or their name says something about their talents, so is Dancer a very lightfeeted reindeer with graceful movements.

Reindeer can sleep at any time they wish, but in Polar City Santa's reindeer sleep at night, so they can do their training during the day, because above all they must have a very good condition to be able to pull the sleigh during the long trips on Christmas Eve and Christmas Night!

Rudolph was born in 1939. Through the magic of the star powder in his nose, he did not get older anymore, after he had reached a mature age, so for years now he is a reindeer from about 7 years old. Modern medicine can remove the condition though, but then Rudolph will became older again every year just like the other reindeer. And as long as he like doing his job and wants to continue it, he will stay a reindeer from 7 years old.

Santa Claus comes in December because the Advent and the Christmas season are in December.
After the Christmas season Santa Claus does first some relaxation. The rest of the year is Santa Claus taking care of the reindeer, taking his herd to the tundra's where they can wander from reindeermeadow to reindeer, those pastures are everywhere along the Arctic circle in Lapland.
He does also regularly check the presents that the Gnomes have been made in the meantime.
And of course he must check out the nice and naughty lists, which the Elfs already made for him. There are many small children but also some adult on this list. And the info about them can change from day to day.
And he is always a couple of weeks on holiday with Mrs. Claus. Often Saint Nicholas (Sinterklaas) will visit them there. Santa would not tell us where they are going on their Holidays.
He also visits his own familie (Brothers, sisters a.s.o.) and all the other santa's second cousins. Also he does occasionally visit Saint Nicholas (Sinterklaas) to drink a cup of coffee together and to have a little chat.

The Elfs are sometimes zealous and then it may well be that they have scheduled two visits at the same time. And that is the reason that Santa must be on multiple places at the same time. This is particularly tiring so Santa always tries to avoid that.
Therefore does Santa Tv-shots often earlier in the day and then they are broadcast at a time that many kids can watch. So can it seem that Santa is at the same time on the TV and in person in another place.

Yes and no. Some people claim that the real Santa does not exist and that the shops rented men who play for Santa Claus. And that all so called Santa's are help-Santa's. But that's talk of silly adults and unbelieving Thomases. Of course, does Santa Claus exist. But he cannot be everywhere at once. When it comes to small children or sick children, when it comes to larger children and adults who really believe in him then Santa Claus does come always himself. But if it's at a double scheduled visit to adult people or children who no longer want to believe in him, then it can happen that Santa is not coming himself. At those very rare occasions (3-5 times per year) he sends one of his second cousins (a real Claus Cousin) together with some Elfs. They are often there (on the background) if Santa Claus is on his way, they have a lot of experience. So also then comes a 'Santa' with real Christmas (Elfs) magic. So yes, Santa Claus gets a help sometimes, but that is very rare, he much prefer to come himself. And no!, That are actually not the kind of help-Santas as doubting Thomases mean. It's a real official Claus who by the Christmas Magic looks exactly like Santa and who does come with real Elfs and Gnomes and with one of Santa's real big names lists.

This has to do with the Yule festival, were the green and the Holy was used to keep bad spirits away. And they reminds us that the winter will pass, and that everything will be green and fertile again. The lights are a christian sign, they remind us that the light will come back again and that the dark (the bad and evil) always loses from the good (the light).
Therefore is Christmas not the festival of Santa Claus, but the reminder of the birth of Jesus Christ.
And just like the wise men from the East, who were on their way to the birth of an important child (the Christmas Child) and who wanted to bring those that child valuable presents, so is the Santa Claus also on his way to important children (all of us) all of which can make the difference between good and evil, between luck and bad luck, between joy and sorrow. That we do get presents from him, is to remind us that we all can have a bit of the 'Spirit of Christmas' in us. And that giving (helping your neighbour) is more important as receiving.

For centuries a shoe or a sock was used to to receive special gifts in. And because every child had his or her own sock (Poor children often had no shoes or only wooden ones), the Elfs could never be mistaken with handing out the gifts. Nowadays the gifts for older children and adults are more and more placed under the Christmas tree.

Because he is very much loves children and likes to spoil them once a year will, and he is very pleased to see their cheerful faces. And isn't it delicious to be able to give things away?

On both questions Santa Claus himself wanted to give the answer straight away:

"Look, this makes Santa very sad. That someone tells that children that when they are e.g. 12 years old (and some parents talk about an even younger age), that they then get nothing anymore from Santa. Okay, in some of those families they draw a lottery with name-tickets and there they buy presents for each other (for the person with the name on that ticket), and then after the unpackingen they guess who did give them their present, a kin of party what Santa also very likes very much to do with the Elfs. But on those parties were/are there not also often presents of which nobody knows who has bought them or where they came/comes from? And weren't they not only for Small Children but for Adults as well? Well then!!"

"And then you there with your 42 years (I won't name names), didn't you all those other 41 years also received a present from me every year? So why should I now stop. Have you been naughty this year? Or don't you believe anymore and are you therefore asking? If you truly believe, you don't have to doubt!"

Well to us that seem very clear answers, we have nothing to add or to explain.

What the first THING was that Santa made, nobody knows anymore, But he still knows what the thing was that was the first thing being called a TOY. It was a hand-carved piece of wood that exactly resembled the horse of St. Nicholas (Sinterklaas). Santa Claus gave this beautiful piece of wood carving to his uncle (Saint Nicholas/Sinterklaas) the day before his birthday and Saint Nicholas (Sinterklaas) was very pleased with it. But Saint Nicholas (Sinterklaas) gave it away again, on the very same day, to a child that would otherwise not get a presentthat year. For Saint Nicholas (Sinterklaas) had already given away all the gifts that he had. Sint Nicolaas said: "It will grieve this child much more when he does not get a gift at all, as it will grieve me to give away my favourite toy". (You can read this fact in one of the many Saint Nicholas (Sinterklaas) stories)
So Saint Nicholas (Sinterklaas) called his wooden horse a toy. And that was the first time anyone used that word.
Anyway, Santa was so moved by Saint Nicholas (Sinterklaas) his action, that he cut a new horse for Saint Nicholas (Sinterklaas), even more beautiful and even more appearing the real horse as the first one. And from then all up to this day, this new horse is proudly standing showing his beauty on the mantelpiece in Saint Nicholas (Sinterklaas) his workroom.
But that's not the end of the story, after Santa finnished the second horse for Saint Nicholas, he did cut more animals and gave these as gifts to the children with the attached note: "This toy animal will always be your friend". From that moment on the people did call the things that children like to play with, toys.

Santa's lovely red Kerstzak is a super magic bag, of which only 3 in the world. Santa owns 2 of, and the third is owned by Douwe Dabbert (a Dwarf), this is much smaller (model backpack/knapsack). The magic of these bags is reflected among other things in the following ways:
A. That you can put everything you want in that sack, without him ever be full. You can do this without thereby increasing the sack. Therefore Santa's Christmasbag will always fit in his sleigh.
B. The bag will give back the things you have tucked in there at the time that you need them. So when Santa wants suitable gifts for (for example) Jack, then all he needs to do is to put his hand in the sack, and pick-up what he feels and take his hand out again, and Presto, there are indeed the gifts for Jack. In this way he will never lose time searching for the right gifts and Jack will always get exactly what he wanted or what he really needed.
C. If someone else as the rightfull owner will look or grab in the sack, then he will see nothing or just find unusable junk.

Santa does only need to have the present for 1 trip (North-South-South-North) in his Christmas-bag (something for which the Elfs extremely carefully check the list, they will do multiple checks!)
And Santa does only need only 1 sack on his trip every time. Once Santa has left with his sleigh, the Elfs fast as lightning and super carefully will fill the other sack and then put it in the 2nd sleigh, so all this is standing ready for Santa when he comes back from one of the trips. Santa lands his empty sleigh, moves over to the full sleigh with a fresh reindeer-team and away he goes again. This goes on, all Christmas Eve and Christmas night until Santa has delivered his parcels in all time zones.

To find the answer, you need to take 4 things into consideration:
A. The world-time is divided in different time zones. Santa does start each trip on the North Pole. And the Northpole is one of the only two places on Earth where all time zones converge and that therefore are present in each time zone. So changing the time zone on the North Pole (or on the South Pole), would Santa cost less then a second, and if he does change them in a direction against the rotation of the Earth then that gives him with each timezone change an hour extra time. So the timezones help because when he does travels against the time displacement, it gives him more time to bring all the gifts in one night. To be precise, measuring by out time he then does have almost 2 evenings and 2 nights .... This is because as the day is on one side of the world, then it's night on the other side. ... So he first delivers the packets in the time zones on one side of the world (where it is dark) and afterwards in the time zones on the other side of the world where it is nighttime then, so he don't have just the 8 hours of one night to do it all. You understand? In the answer one one of the first questions we told you that there was another reasons why Santa in December does live on (near by) the Northpole. Well, this is thus the other reason why Santa in december (and so on Christmas Eve) does live at the North Pole. So he can use this Timezone effect.
B. So as we all know, is a straight line the shortest path between 2 points. That is why Santa travels not just randomly from place to place (the one in the East, the next in the West, then a in the South and then again in the West etc), but he plans his route from the Northpole all the time North to South (or from South to North as he passed the South Pole), he does remain in 1 time zone until he is on the South Pole (which is the second place on the Earth that is in all time zones). There he goes to the next time zone (think of the hour time savings) and takes in that timezone the route to the North, to the North Pole.
At the North Pole awaits him than a new equipped team of strong and lightning-fast reindeer and a new sleigh with a sack full of presents, he moves to the other sleigh and chooses the next timezone (hour profit!) and then it goes again in full speed southward. And so it goes for nearly 24 hours.

Santa's reindeer sleep at night in Polar City, so they can do their training during the day – because above all they need to have a very good condition to be able to pull the sleigh during the long travels on Christmas Eve and Christmas Night! The day before Christmas Eve, they have a custom schedule so they can rest and sleep as much as possible. And Santa and the Elfs do check out the reindeer to make sure that they are 100% fit and ready for the long Flying trip.

In addition, does Santa take with him oats and water for them, what they get when he takes a dive in a chimney, so they don't get hungry or thirsty and will stay full of energy. Ofcourse do the reindeer also rest for a while during such a short stop, otherwise you would hear them moving on the roof.
Every time when Santa at the North Pole returns, the other reindeerteam is refreshed, standing ready with the other sleigh fully loaded. Santa lands, the Elfs take care of the tired reindeer and the empty sleigh, Santa gets some refreshments, steps into the other sleigh, changes to another timezone and off it goes again.

Against the cold, snow and rain Santa can dress up himself. Also has he, if necessary, protective covers for the reindeer, so that kind of weather is no problem at all. But the storms and gusts make the sleigh swing very much and than it is very difficult to throw the parcels exactly in the correct chimney or to land save on the right roof. If it's really neccessary then he can always use a little Elf-magic. And of course, in high winds and storm, does Santa use a safety belt to.

In many places on the Earth there is never snow around Christmas time, that has Santa never stopped from to coming there. Mind you for flying he does not need no snow. Only for the landing and the 'Lift-off' the sleigh must slide a little, sometimes the roofs and the ground are smooth enough by themselfs, If they are not then Santa use the Elf-magic for a little bit local snow, just enough for the sleigh to lift off. Maybe you did see it some time on a early Christmas morning, the streets and the gardens without any snow, but yet on one rooftop a small track of snow.

High in the air in the cold zones he does wear a thick warm cloak over his suit, When it gets warmer then he takes the coat off and stores it under the bench of his sleigh.

All Elfs and Gnomes all over the world help Santa, so also the Gnome(s) that lives hidden in your house or in the house from one of your neighbours. He keeps Santa well informed over everythings that happen in his neighborhood, so he also reports that you are not at home and he reports straight away where you are then.
Has your father or your mother said to you that they have sent Santa a message? Well then they have that problem fixed. Then Santa dis hear it already from 2 sides.
They have said that they would send a message to Santa and now you are worried that they have forgotten it by all that hustle and bustle? Yes, that happens indeed sometimes. And now you're afraid there is no Gnome lives in your neighborhood that could give Santa the info? Well you can count on it that there is one. But imagine it's not so, then there's always another Gnome near at the address where you are going to. And who did sent a message to Santa that you will be in his neighborhood. Problem fixed. And what if that Gnomes has sit sleeping? Then there are the animals near your house or near the address where you are going to. Animals do note every thing that is happening around them! And they make sure that there is a Gnome that does reports it to Santa. So which way ever, Santa does get his Info's on time!
Really, Santa can't remember ever not knowning where the presents for the children should go to. Not even when parents did want to recieve them on 2 different addresses, e.g. their own address and one address from grandparents.

Yeah sure they can, if their parents approve it.

Well, there are people who say that Santa does use some of his special magic to let temporarily a chimney appear, same kind of chimney as your house would have if it had been built in the middle ages. And that Santa than can enter and leave through that chimney, or that he than just use it for the packets. At that when he leaves your house that chimney then does disappear again.
Other people say that Santa has a silver key that fits on every door. Simmilair to the one that Jeroen has in the dutch book "Jeroen en the zilveren sleutel" (translation: Jeroen and the silver key). So that he can get open every lock.
And then there are people who say that the Gnome who lives in your house has long since built an invisible and undetectable chimney, that is visible only to Santa, Elfs and Gnomes. Santa then can use this chimney.
And you know what? They all have it right! It does happen that way very often.
But there is another much easier way. Often it is the Gnome who lives with you or it is one of your pets that helps Santa to come inside. They than open the door, or a window, for him, or if necessary, they even can open the dog hatch for the presents.

Santa Claus let the Elf magic temporarily deaf or freeze the fire, (Santa says: Bring it asleep), he delivers safely the presents, and on his departure the fire will burn again (wake up again). To our question how the Elvish magic does this, said Santa: "For everything is a time and it is not yet the time to give this secret away"

Santa Claus prefers to give small fun gifts (e.g. toys) or things that the child really needs (e.g. a pullover). But sometimes there are rich parents who feel that their child has deserved a big present. They buy it themself and they are asking Santa if he who would rap it in, and than put it in the sock or under the Christmas tree. Usually Santa is willing to do so, but he finds that they than also have to buy some presents for poor children so that he can bring something more to those children also. So now you know, that those expensive gifts are bought by the parents or grandparents! That is also one of the reasons that Santa does bring the children in Africa no expensive toys, their parents simple cannot pay them. A second reason is that those kids can do nothing with an electric rail train, for example, if there is no electricity at all in their whole village!! The third reason is that Santa likes to give things that are needed. For example, a waterpump for the whole village he does find more important there as toys for a few children. But if Santa would have a waterpump to give to such a village (We have said before that Santa is not rich, so he has to get stings through sponsorship), then he will really not wait until Christmas to bring him, but he does arrange that pump will be there as soon as possible. Because these things are very strong needed there. Very often Sant does arrange it so, that some rich families together buy the Pump (as extra gift for Santa's help with their big presents, and that another family is paying for the shipment of the pump.
Do the kids there then get nothing? Sure they get toys, but the simple toys that they ask for, rich children do often no longer recognize them as toys anymore. They would quickly call that clutter and ask themself what they should with it. Lon time ago. the children in our culture used to be very pleased with and very proud of their new wooden clappers (kind of musical instrument), now they would be wondering "what am I supposed to do with those 2 pieces of wood?" So the kids in Africa really get gifts from Santa and also gifts where they really really happy with.

Sometimes Santa does think that what you did ask would not be the best gift for you, then he does give you something of which you, after a while, would have a lot more fun or a lot more use for.

He does not understand why the parents did purchase that item. Because for the magic of the Christmas sack, it would never come out of his Christmas sack.
He would tell the HouseGnome to leave small notes everywhere for parents to find, in which he give the sugestion to exchange the gift in at the store where they bought it. Usually this helps. Therefore parents may never say to the child that Santa would be sad if the child wants to exchange it, infact it would make Santa really sad if it did not get exchanged.

If that child was before Christmas Eve all really very, very naughty and and in the meanwhile does has no regrets, then Santa would not even come to bring him no presents. If the child was naughty was just before Santa's arrival, then Santa would talk to him about why it did happen, if it turns out that he was sorry and that he does promise never to do it again, then he still gets his presents. A Child that recrets that is was naughty, gets a place on Santa's Nice-list.
But if he was Naughty and does not regret it, then Santa goes away again without giving him any present.

Be honest with them, Hold them clearly back if they want to do something that should not be done or cannot be done, but above all, reward them, give them a compliment if they do something good. Positive stimulation is better if negative stimulation. And give them the space to make their own minor mistakes every now and then, sometimes they learn more from their own mistakes, then from a warning for those glitches. And do not say afterwards: "I did already told you so". That works negatively and damages their confidence (as of: I surely can do anything right), but be ready, after they realize that it was a mistake, with help and encouragement to repair the damage, or to do it over again etc. That teaches them that you also can repair a mistake, and therfore this is good for their confidence, they learn that they can rely on their parents, so they feel safer and more comfortable with their parents and they will learn also that parents sometimes can say on forehand if something is good or not. That means they come sooner asking advice by difficult questions, and that in turn means that they are going to make less mistakes. And that is exactly what parents want to achieve or is it not? And in this way you achive it without coercion.

Oh No! He never does eat and drink all of them! Occasionally he does eat and drink a little bit of it, but most of it he takes along for the Gnomes. They are crazy for milk and cookies. Normally the Gnomes always get a cup of milk and some biscuits during their work breaks. Those cookies are baked by Mrs. Claus and a few Gnomes. But there is a special Gnomes party on Boxing Day, where Mrs. Claus herself never can bake enough cookies for, so the extra biscuits Santa does can bring are more then welcome.
The only time in the year when the Gnomes may eat as many cookies as they want is on Boxing Day. Then they have their Great Gnomes Cookie Eat Contest. There are Several Leagues, 1 for the Girls, 1 for the Boys, 1 for female adult Gnomes, 1 for male adult Gnomes, 1 for elderly female Gnomes and 1 for elderly male Gnomes. The game is to at as much cookies as you can within 15 minutes time. During this Leagues Santa is sitting in his chair on one side in the great Hall, to unpack his presents, while on the other side of the Hall the Gnomes keep the Great Gnomes Cookie Eat contest, this is a contest in which allmost all Gnomes do participate. And Santa has definitely just as much fun viewing the games as he has from unpacking his presents.
The best five eaters in every League may participate in the final round. This round is not on time but one has to eat as much cookies as one can,and the number of cookies eaten in their leagues do also count. The one who did eat the most cookies overall is the winner of the contest and does get the title 'Great Cookie Eater of the Year' and a medal with that text on a long goldcoloured ribbon, and he does proudly wear it all year long ...
So therefore are all cookies the children do leave for Santa are very welcome, and the milk is needed to flush away all those cookies during the eating, so that is also very welcome. It actually doesn't matter the Gnomes very much what kind of cookies they are, they really like all kinds of cookies, but we can confirm that cookies with chocolate are favorite!
Most Elfs don't like cookies very much, they prefer things like honey and blackberries, in fact Santa does also. And the reindeer may not have these cookies, that's not good for their stomachs, They would rather have something like a carrot.
So now you know what happens with the cookies and you learned what you can leave for the Elfs and/or the reindeer.

Santa's favorite food is:
starter: Pea soup or Chinese tomato soup, main course: Bami pangang, Swedestew (kohlrabistew) or Christmaschicken with French fries, dessert: Christmas pudding with whipped cream. Mrs. Claus always makes this for the Christmas season and on Santa his birthday.
Usually on Christmas day they eat Chinese tomato soup, then the Bami pangang and a Christmas puding. At boxing day they eat pea soup, then Chicken with French fries and another Christmas pudding, and then the first few days after Christmas they have the remains from the both Christmas day and Boxing day together with Swedestew. For Santa it is just a week-long feast.
Reindeer meat or penquin chopstick, however, he will never eat.

The song that says exactly what Santa finds of December: "It's the most wonderfull time of the year".

It should remind us of all good things, to the love that is in all people and to the hope and the faith that we on this globe can live in peace and prosperity. And that we must begin with our children to learn that it is often more important to take care for your fellow man to than to always take care just for yourself.
If we want to get back to the true meaning of Christmas, spreading love and appreciation for each other, we will have to let go the idea that it is all about ourselves.
Altruism is the ability to do something for other people without expecting anything in return. That means also not expect someone will love you because you did give him or her a little gift. Santa Claus and Saint Nicholas (Sinterklaas) are thus examples of altruism, as they give gifts without a wanting you to be fund of them or to send them a personal "thank you" note.
That means that we have to focus on the message of Christmas, namely:
your fellow man is your equal, whether he is a child or an outcast and is entitled to your appreciation.
You do not have to show that appreciation in the form of gifts, but for example in the fact that you take the time for others without expecting anything in return.
So not:
This year will I organize the Christmas party if you will do it the next year?
But :
I've been meaning to celebrate Christmas this year. Who wants to join?

That there would be no more poverty and hunger and no more loneliness, actually thus that people would feel the "Spirit of Christmas" all year long and to act to that feeling all year long.

That there would be no more poverty and hunger and no more loneliness, actually thus that people would feel the "Spirit of Christmas" all year long and to act to that feeling all year long.

A gift that is not expensive, that last long without losing pieces, A gift is biodegradable, where you don't need batteries, that is both for boys and for girls and that is also for both children and adults is fun to play with, and on top of that all a gift where you can have just as much fun when playing with on your own as you would have when Playing with it with whole group.

Santa is for clean technology (actually a sleigh is a very simple form of clean technology, or not?), so Santa is for technology that is not harmful to the environment and he finds that it is this time to work on that.
Santa sure is against technology that is harmful to the environment.

Santa does love most the toys that fits to the child, that stimulates the child in its development, and that preferably contributes something to the standards and values of the child. If that then are wooden toys or computer-controlled toys, does depend on what fits the child the best.

Santa likes to provide that what the child needs or what the child wants (if that is possible). For example: A baby does not need to have 10 toys and not at all 10 booklets, so for a baby it would be 1 or 2 toys, a booklet and lots of clothes, but with an older child is that guite different than. Santa does really judge each situation on its own values. So there is no comprehensive standard answer to this question.

Yes, and that are more and more lately.

No, he isn't worried about the urge for moving, it will take more then a cpouple of year before that will become an item for him. Of course is he concerned about the greenhouse effect, because it will impact the entire earth.