Of course, around here we celebrate once I have returned safely home and slept off the exhaustion and vertigo of my long trip around the world.

As our children have grown and scattered to the winds, Mrs. Claus and I have found ourselves celebrating a week of Christmas! Its quite lovely actually, celebrating Christmas again and again as our children and grand children come and go!

I know how much you like to hear about the gifts Mrs. Claus and I give each other. So let’s see… This year I gave Mrs. Claus a hair clip made by an artist who makes them out of real preserved butterflies. (Once they have gone to heaven of course) She also was delighted by a box of glass owl ornaments that our daughter Rebekah collected for her!

And hmmm…Oh! She loves the knitting pattern our younger daughter Meta gave her of an enormous red fox!

Mrs. Claus gave me an extraordinary thing I hadn’t seen the likes of in hundreds of years, a Radiometer! The light and heat of the sun makes the wings inside spin like magic!

I hope very much that you and you had a wonderful Christmas yourself and your 2011 has a fine finish that lights the way for a beautiful New Year!

Much Love,

Your Santa Claus

By magic of course!

The odd thing was that wasn’t very much this year…

Could it be because last year our youngest son was overcome with Christmas spirit and harvested baskets and baskets of mistletoe? It was hanging everywhere by the time we emptied his baskets!

Its a sort of tree fungus anyway. Did you know that? Makes you wonder how anyone got the idea that fungus had anything to do with sneaking a kiss?

OH BABY its cold outside! Mrs. Claus just let out dog in and the cold just rolled through the room like a herd of frozen buffalo!

I am going to go hop in bed and warm up!

Sweet Dreams!

Santa

Oh no! Just like you, we only have one at Christmas time and today Mrs. Claus and I flew south to get our Christmas tree, in the sleigh, which Mrs. Claus loves but rarely gets to do.

We flew with the birds over miles of lonesome snowy white tundra sparkling like a field of diamonds. We flew over seas of migrating elk and deer. We flew over hungry wolves hopping in the drifts looking for something, anything to eat. We flew over Siberian Pine trees older than me! Well, maybe not older than me but very nearly.

Finally, we flew over a river and through the woods to where a dear old, old, friend of ours lives nestled at the bottom of a small mountain in a forest of Christmas trees.

Our friend Nik invited us to come visit him and choose our tree! So Mrs. Claus and I bundled up our grand daughter Ellery, our dog Artemis, and ourselves into the sleigh with some cocoa (of course) and a sharp saw excited to find the perfect tree; not too TALL and not too wee; not too BUSHY and not too sparse…

The smoke from Nik’s fire met our cold pink noses as we slowly descended over his house… lower and lower until Hedley, Brawley, Hansel and Klondyke’s hooves reunited with the ground.

Nik came bounding out of his house to greet us in the wild storm of snow the reindeer’s hooves and sleigh runners had kicked up! It is impossible to guess how old Nik really is by the way he bounds up and down his mountain, sure footed old goat. You would never know he can barely see anything anymore. We have known Nik soooo long, so unusually long for a human, that recently I have begun to suspect he must be part elf…

We followed a deer path that meandered gently up and up until we had nearly come all the way around to the back side of Nik’s farm. Ellery would be very disappointed if we came all this way only to go home without a tree to decorate. And so we stood, all of us, looking up the high side of the mountain and then down down below us…

Well, this was it. This was our chance. We had to find a tree! And so I left the path with the great determination of a grandfather on a mission. I hiked straight up the steep mountain side fully expecting there to be no way for my boots to grip the slippery slope, but to my great surprise and delight my boots did grip and so I climbed toward a tree that looked wonderful… until I got close enough to see many of its branches were quite brown.

Wandering from one “I see one !” to another led me huffing and puffing quite high up the mountainside. Suddenly thoughts of my delicate, just healing collar bone made me wonder how far up I’d gone… I turned to look back to where the others were standing down below and there was Mrs. Claus not far behind me and there next to Mrs Claus was THE ONE! We had walked right by the perfect tree!

Reaching gingerly from tree to tree we were able to slow the speed with which gravity tried to send us careening down the slippery, snowy mountainside and reach the bottom safe and sound richer by one perfect Christmas Tree!

Et voila! That is how this extraordinary tree (they always look bigger indoors somehow don’t they?) came to be standing in our living room happily overburdened with over a thousand years of pretty shiny baubles and balls, squirrels and snowmen, fish and cupcakes, birds, bees, butterflies, and and and…

I managed to do just fine waving mostly left handed. Some of my favorite balloons were in attendance, Shrek, a big blue Smurf the energizer bunny… Oh! And its always a bit dicey for Spiderman to make the parade route without incident! Congratulations Spiderman!

Most special was being with my family. As you can well imagine Mrs. Claus and I have children and grandchildren scattered to the furthest corners of this globe and it truly is a miracle for us to all sit down together and share a meal these days. We managed just by the hairs of my chinny chin chin to all be together and THAT is what I am truly most grateful for this Thanksgiving.

I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful, that you had a chance to snuggle on the lap of someone you love and have a nap; I hope you thought about what you are most grateful for, I hope you laughed so hard you thought you might burst!

I am grateful for you. I am grateful for your Christmas spirit and for your belief in Christmas miracles! I am grateful for your loving heart and wish you and your family a most blessed holiday season!

Much Love, Santa

Weeeeeell, those beloved deer were the great great great… grandparents of Godiva and Splat and the deer we have now. Reindeer only live between 10 and 18 years. So you see, Dasher and Dancer were my deer in the first part of the 20th century. They had babies who grew up and had babies, who grew up and had babies…

You can read about some of the more recent babies. I have written about the 2008-2011 babies in older posts on this very blog!

Question: How is it that Mrs. Claus and I can be nearly 2000 years old and have children and grand children?

Excellent question!

Let’s see… well some of what goes on around here I will admit appears to be magic and that I have done nothing over the years to deny, nor dispel that notion. It is true that Mrs. Claus and I have thus far lived much longer than humans do these days according to the human clock.

However, we must remember that humans have had longer and shorter life spans at different points in history over the thousands of years that people have been living on this Earth AND the secret truth is there is more than one clock!

I’ve written a little bit here about Elves before and how they live for thousands of years remember? Well, the truth about elves is that they are not so much magical creatures as you might imagine. Although magic is all in how you see it yes? So it is up to you what is magical, what is a miracle and what is nature? Sometimes something can be all three! Babies being born for instance but I digress…

Mrs. Claus and I live aligned with a much older “clock” than the one hanging in your kitchen. Elves, and many other timeless folks live by this older sense of “time,” or rhythm of the the Earth. It explains how we can live what appears to be so long by kitchen clock standards; and have children and grandchildren; and be everywhere on Christmas Eve.

Being so deeply connected to nature (everything that lives and breathes and grows outside) is how we are not so cold even here in the sub zero North; how we are not so bothered by year long nights and days and how we can know by thinking about someone who has been naughty and who has been nice…

What else do you wonder?

Your Santa Claus

Its a good thing I am left handed because I can’t lift my right arm at all! So much for having a plan for these final few months before Christmas. The universe seems to have a funny sense of timing and an entirely different plan for me. I must admit I am having a little bit of trouble just going with it…

Mrs. Claus says this might be a good time to answer some of the questions in children’s letters. How does that sound?

Hmmm… what is a good question? Well Izzy in England writes wondering that since I am so old, and the world has changed so much since I was a young boy, what are my most favorite inventions?

Well Izzy, it isn’t very glamorous but my very favorite invention hands down is the indoor bathroom. Most seriously. Having to drop your drawers outdoors when it is anywhere near freezing is NO fun at all!

I am also quite fond of my new Sonic Care toothbrush. Remember to brush your teeth! You never know how long they are going to have to last you!

Oh! And I do love forks also. Spoons and knives have been around since nearly the dawn of time but forks are a wonderful inspiration! And Long Johns! They keep us toasty up here at the subzero top of the world!

OH! What is this? My expertise is needed on a matter in the barn! How wonderful to still be able to help in some way!

Have a wonderful day and much love,

Santa

A terrible case of cabin fever had absolutely over come me! Once napping became the only thing on my To Do list it lost its magic.

This morning I was up with the chickens and off to work! It looks something like this outside these days.

This picture was taken a ways South of us over many months so you can see how high the sun rises here.

Where most children live the sun spends the day rising up high into the sky, then slides back down until it disappears before dark. Here the sun cannot reach the tree tops in the winter!

Dark or light it was nice to leave the house today and see other people! I love how peaceful the green houses are before anyone is awake. The plants that were seedlings before my accident are so junglish now! Once Beasley and his helpers began to trickle in I took the lovely butternut squash I found ready in the squash patch and headed over to make some marbles, blue ones with white swirls. That about wore me out!

Mrs. Claus is off helping the hats, socks and mittens girls sort and match mittens. They got all mixed up when the knitters moved to their new bigger building. She could be there a while so I decided to come home and make some squash soup to take to them with some of the fresh bread Elsa (bread baking gnome from the Mediterranean) made this morning!

I hope that you have a very wonderful rest of your day!

Much Love,

Santa

There are strict rules for people who are about to have surgery; even for Santa Claus, no food or drinks (not even a crumb much too small for a mouse) after midnight the night before!

We arrived in Zurich in the dark at 6am a month ago. It’s dark here in the Arctic nearly all of the time now, so I was really hoping for a peek at the sun.

But before I knew it I was drifting off to sleep and in the twinkling of an eye a nurse was shaking me awake! Of course on the clock Mrs. Claus and my youngest daughter waited in the waiting room for me for five or six hours.

The doctors tell us that reconnecting the two pieces of my broken collar bone went very well and I am in amazing shape considering my age and estimated annual cookie consumption.

All this healing has made me very sleepy this whole month… zzz… even with so much to be done only 63 days before Christmas!

Finally yesterday I was able to start using my right arm a little bit. I carefully oiled my work boots, brushed a few deer out in the barn. They love a good currying just like a horse, especially Godiva who gets in the brambles more than your average reindeer!

It doesn’t sound like much but when I was through I was so tired out.

So I am on the mend, optimistic and very humbled. Somehow I thought a flying accident couldn’t happen to me. No one could believe it could happen to me!

Luckily all is well and I will be fit as a fiddle before you hear the prancing and pawing of each little hoof on your roof!

Much Love,

Your Santa Claus

Dr. Dufleur and his mobile x-ray machine flew to us all the way from Zurich Switzerland! The x-ray of my broken collar bone was a very sad sight to see, but now I know why it hurts so much. It’s broken in two! My first broken bone ever.

The logistics of Santa Claus having surgery were a bit complicated to sort out. Really the Magic Vestibule is the best way for me to get there, we decided. Traveling, even by sleigh just now is much too bumpy and painful.

With every bump the broken bones bang into each other! Ouch! I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to not hurting anymore. The Doctor said a metal plate and a few screws will make me right as rain again in a few days!

To make sure all will be well for me during surgery I had to have all sorts of tests. Before Dr. Dufleur left he showed us a map of his hospital in Zurich and we chose an out of the way doorway through which Mrs. Claus and I can arrive through the vestibule on Monday.

On the bright side, I do love how life has really slowed down for Mrs. Claus and I. We have had some rare quiet time together this past week. She is sewing the loose buttons onto the big red coat right now.

Since I am stuck resting on the couch until my surgery, Mrs Claus rummaged around in our closet and pulled out my big red coat! After a year of sitting there in the closet the box gets very dusty, but nestled safely under layers of tissue paper my coat, hat and pants stay safe and sound!  The wrinkles steamed out of my hat nicely yesterday. I am wearing it right now. I’ve been so chilly since my crash, that I put my hat on straight away to help keep me toasty warm!

Every year we put the coat away cleaned but somehow when Mrs. Claus pulled it out of the box earlier there was a stain…could I have spilled some milk on it eating cookies at your house last Christmas Eve? Ho! Ho! Ho!

After a bit of a soak its fresh as a daisy!

Healing is making me sooooo sleepy…

Much Love,

Santa