Santa's secrets

Santa is a mysterious guy. The jolly man in the red suit does a lot of things that seem impossible -- not the least of which is delivering toys to every little boy and girl around the world in one night. Jolly ol' St. Nick visited the Southeast Missourian to answer some of the questions sent in by Southeast Missourian Jr. reporters. While he didn't reveal how he makes it to nearly every home on Earth, he did provide his latest methods for some other Santa-sized feats, mentioning, too, that his techniques change through the years. The way he does things now may be different from how he did it a decade ago or even last year, he said.

~ Chris Harris

Where do you keep the sled when you're visiting the mall or my school cafeteria?

I keep it right outside, but I've got a special dust that I sprinkle over the sleigh and the reindeer so you can't see them.

How old are you?

Well I've lost count! Let's just say I am older than the oldest person you can think of.

How many elves do you have?

I lost count of those, too. The number has definitely grown. When we brought in all the electronic stuff, I had to hire a bunch of new ones. Really, Mrs. Claus takes care of all that.

How much gas do you put in your sled for one whole night?

The reindeer are enough to pull the sleigh. It doesn't even take gas. You got to remember those are magic reindeer. They can fly. How many reindeer do you know that have red noses and can fly? They've got to be magic.

Do you only fly the sleigh on Christmas Eve?

Since I've got plenty of the dust to make the reindeer and sleigh disappear, I go around checking to see if you've been bad or good. You just don't know I'm there.

Are you forgiving? What if someone has been naughty, but feels really sorry about it?

I check in a lot, and if they're really, really sorry, I'll know and I'll still give them a good Christmas.

Can I come to the North Pole and work in your workshop?

The elves are used to the cold, but I don't know if you'll be able to handle the snow. It's kind of hard to live at the North Pole. There's no swimming pools.

Do you really like cookies and milk or do you want to be healthy now?

You can leave me a little apple juice, too. I like that. But I still like my cookies. Now, I do loose weight through the year until Christmas time. Then I gain a bunch of weight eating all the cookies.

Do you ever go on vacation?

Not often. That's the trouble with owning your own place.

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