Latest / Behind The Village Podcast / How Does Santa Visit a Billion Houses in One Night? (And Other Questions Kids Actually Asked)

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How Does Santa Visit a Billion Houses in One Night? (And Other Questions Kids Actually Asked) · Behind The Village Podcast

• 0:04
  Hi, Santa. Oh, hello, Michaela. What's your name
• 0:11
  again? I forgot your name. Akira. Akira. Oh,
• 0:15
  my goodness. I've been so busy. Things are going
• 0:18
  so... crazy here at the North Pole. You know,
• 0:21
  we're less than two months out from the big day,
• 0:24
  so so much is going on that sometimes my head
• 0:28
  just gets away from me. I apologize, Akira. My
• 0:31
  sincerest apologies that I should have recognized
• 0:33
  you straight away. Well, thank you for taking
• 0:36
  some time out of your busy, busy Christmastime
• 0:39
  schedule to talk to us. Oh, it's my pleasure.
• 0:42
  It's always good to talk to two good friends.
• 0:45
  We had some questions for you and we actually
• 0:48
  had some questions from some local kids too.
• 0:51
  And we were wondering if you'd be okay to answer
• 0:53
  them for us. I would love to. Nothing too difficult,
• 0:56
  I hope. I don't think so. Okay. Do you want to
• 1:00
  ask the first one? Sure. How do you visit every
• 1:05
  house in one night? Very well, thank you. No,
• 1:09
  you know, it takes a lot of planning. We spend
• 1:13
  all year planning the route. We do have some
• 1:17
  modern technology in the sleigh, some GPS units
• 1:21
  and, you know, satellite tracking. But there
• 1:25
  really is some very powerful Christmas magic
• 1:30
  that gets used. And, you know, portals open up
• 1:33
  and we go through and we can appear. And there's,
• 1:37
  you know, we... I do have some magic, but it's
• 1:41
  only good on Christmas Eve. So, you know, I can
• 1:44
  do things like slow time down a little bit. I
• 1:48
  can make sure that everyone's asleep when I arrive.
• 1:51
  We just sort of stretch the laws of space and
• 1:54
  time a little bit. That makes sense. And we did
• 1:58
  have some questions about that. So I like that
• 2:00
  you've touched on it because there were a few
• 2:02
  things we were unclear about with how Christmas
• 2:04
  Eve. It comes together, so that's perfect. Perfect.
• 2:07
  Well, fire away. Which ranger is your favorite
• 2:12
  and why? Oh, that is such a hard question. Oh,
• 2:16
  my goodness. They're all so lovely. They pull
• 2:20
  equally hard. I mean, you know, Rudolph's got
• 2:24
  his own song and everything, and he's very special.
• 2:27
  He leads the team on those foggy, cloudy nights.
• 2:33
  I also rely on him to do some training during
• 2:36
  the reindeer games as well. So I, uh, you know,
• 2:40
  as, as, as low as I am to say that I have a favorite,
• 2:43
  you know, Rudolph does, uh, Rudolph does a lot
• 2:45
  of work. Um, and, uh, you know, Blitzen, Blitzen,
• 2:51
  she runs very, very fast and, um, and as well
• 2:57
  as Dasher and, uh, Cupid, she's just lovely.
• 3:02
  Yes. Aw, that's so nice. I'd love to meet all
• 3:05
  the reindeer. They sound so nice. They really
• 3:08
  are, but they work so hard. And when it's not
• 3:13
  Christmas Eve, they spend a lot of their time
• 3:16
  training, you know. They have to be able to jump
• 3:19
  up onto housetops and jump from roof to roof.
• 3:22
  And they are very, very busy all year round.
• 3:26
  And I rely on them for almost everything, you
• 3:29
  know. That makes a lot of sense because it's
• 3:33
  a lot of hard work what they do on Christmas
• 3:35
  Eve. So training makes sense. Yes, they have
• 3:38
  to stay in tip -top shape. Do the reindeer ever
• 3:43
  get to go inside or do they get some rest time?
• 3:47
  Oh, of course. Of course they do. No, I'm no
• 3:50
  taskmaster. I don't force them to work. They
• 3:55
  love what they do, but they also have families.
• 3:59
  And, you know, we have a lovely stable at the
• 4:03
  North Pole, and they can go in there whenever
• 4:07
  they get cold or hungry. They're very well taken
• 4:10
  care of. We have a whole department of elves
• 4:13
  that just look after the reindeer. They feed
• 4:17
  them, give them water, brush their coats, trim
• 4:20
  their antlers if they're getting a little too
• 4:21
  wild. You know, they are so well taken care of,
• 4:25
  and I hope that shows. Because I do love all
• 4:29
  of them. How do you keep your sleigh flying when
• 4:35
  it's like... windy or something. Oh, yes. Well,
• 4:39
  the reindeer have been trained to be able to
• 4:43
  fly into the wind, right? So they can judge the
• 4:48
  best course of action. They almost have like
• 4:51
  a sixth sense about which direction the wind
• 4:53
  is blowing. So we can deviate from the route
• 4:56
  a little bit so that we can make sure that we
• 4:59
  are traveling mostly with the wind and not into
• 5:02
  it or across it. So we've got... little tailwind
• 5:06
  there too to speed us up a little bit cool there
• 5:11
  you go because and then we also had a similar
• 5:14
  question to that as well what's that oh yes how
• 5:17
  can you see and fly in a blizzard oh well Rudolph's
• 5:23
  nose does lead the way. Like I said, we do use
• 5:26
  some sophisticated GPS tracking systems. We didn't
• 5:30
  always have that. We had to rely on flying low
• 5:33
  and being able to see landmarks. But, you know,
• 5:37
  we were early adopters of that kind of technology.
• 5:41
  Lots of people wanted to help us out. So we got
• 5:44
  on that bandwagon pretty quickly, you know. No
• 5:51
  GPS is able to keep every address in, but it
• 5:54
  keeps us going in the right direction. We know
• 5:56
  which town we're heading to next, which direction
• 5:59
  to head. And like I said, we do take into account
• 6:01
  the winds and the radar. So if I can't see just
• 6:08
  directly ahead of me because of the snow, we
• 6:10
  do have, like I said, GPS, sonar technology,
• 6:14
  all kinds of things that will help us see where
• 6:17
  we're going and know where we're going. Yes.
• 6:20
  Good questions. Yes, Santa's very techie. I don't
• 6:24
  think I knew that. You know, we've been doing
• 6:26
  this a very, very long time. Since before there
• 6:28
  was electronics, we do also have a magic compass.
• 6:33
  that will point us in the right direction as
• 6:35
  well. Yes. So if the batteries die in the GPSs
• 6:39
  or the Bluetooth goes down, we can rely on the
• 6:43
  old standby and the magic compass and pocket
• 6:46
  watch will get us where we need to go as well.
• 6:48
  Yes. Aha. There we go. We're learning some secrets
• 6:52
  here. I didn't know that. How do you make sure
• 6:57
  you can kind of be on the nice list? What are
• 6:59
  some things that you can do to... To make sure
• 7:02
  you're not on the naughty list and that you're
• 7:04
  trying to be on the nice list. Good question.
• 7:06
  That's a very good question. Now, I think the
• 7:10
  number one thing is listen. If you listen to
• 7:13
  the grownups in your life who are just trying
• 7:16
  to look out for you and make sure that you're
• 7:18
  still on the straight and narrow, that's number
• 7:19
  one. Listen and respond with kindness and grace.
• 7:27
  Number two, clean your room. There's, you know,
• 7:33
  I'm not saying that a dirty room is going to
• 7:36
  take you right off the nice list, but, you know,
• 7:39
  it's always better. It's easier to walk through
• 7:41
  a clean room. And number three, just always do
• 7:45
  your best. You know, as long as you are trying
• 7:49
  hard and doing your best, I don't see any reason
• 7:54
  why you wouldn't make the nice list. Now, if
• 7:57
  you come to Santa's village and you're on the
• 8:00
  naughty list. This is what I've been telling
• 8:05
  people who come to visit us while I'm there.
• 8:07
  If you come to Santa's Village and you're on
• 8:09
  the naughty list, there is a trap door at the
• 8:12
  gate to the park, and you will fall in if you're
• 8:14
  on the naughty list. We have a detector at the
• 8:16
  front gate. Do you ever wear jeans and a t -shirt?
• 8:20
  Oh, of course! I have some lovely pairs of red
• 8:23
  jeans. You know, most people wear blue jeans.
• 8:27
  I like mine red. And I have some. In fact, this
• 8:32
  summer at the village, when it got very hot,
• 8:34
  I wore a lovely red and white striped T -shirt.
• 8:39
  You know, you can't wear a wool suit every day.
• 8:45
  Not when it's very warm in the summer. In the
• 8:48
  wintertime. It's a red wool suit is great because
• 8:52
  it will keep you warm and it's very easy to see
• 8:54
  in the snow. So but, you know, I do have some
• 8:59
  casual looks as well. I mean, you know, I'm not
• 9:01
  wearing not wearing a full of my my full traditional
• 9:05
  suit right now either. Just I want it to be casual
• 9:07
  for you. This is supposed to be fun. Right. So
• 9:10
  let's keep it a little lighter. There we go.
• 9:14
  Santa's got a whole wardrobe. I do. Oh, Mrs.
• 9:16
  Claus is a fashion plate. She has the best dresses
• 9:22
  and pantsuits and, you know, fur muffs. She's,
• 9:26
  I love her so much. And she is just wonderful.
• 9:29
  And she, oh, you want to talk about outfits.
• 9:32
  Oh, she looks great every day. What do you do
• 9:36
  during the rest of the year? After Christmas
• 9:39
  is done and the busyness is... Immediately after
• 9:42
  Christmas is done, the day after the big trip,
• 9:46
  Mrs. Claus and I get in the sleigh and go to
• 9:48
  Tahiti. We have worked so hard for an entire
• 9:54
  year to get things ready. We give the elves two
• 9:58
  weeks off as well. They all get a nice break
• 10:00
  and they can go off wherever they do. So things
• 10:02
  are generally much quieter right after Christmas
• 10:05
  at the North Pole. But we do love our tropical
• 10:08
  vacations right after Christmas. The rest of
• 10:13
  the year, you know, things have to start right
• 10:15
  away. We are visiting over a billion. people
• 10:19
  a year. So you have to start early to get things
• 10:23
  ready. So we start preparing the lists in January.
• 10:26
  By February, the toy production line is back
• 10:29
  up and running again. And we're doing some checking
• 10:33
  in on things. My friends like the Easter Bunny
• 10:36
  and the Tooth Fairy, they help. We get information.
• 10:39
  We share information, let's say. I do say take
• 10:43
  some time off in the summer, like you have visited.
• 10:46
  And I have mentioned that I do like to go to
• 10:49
  Santa's Village and spend the summers there because,
• 10:52
  oh, it's just so lovely and it's so nice to visit
• 10:55
  with people when there's not that pressure of
• 10:57
  Christmas shopping and all the hubbub of Christmas
• 11:01
  too. So just to meet people in a more relaxed
• 11:04
  setting is lovely too. So, you know, we do have
• 11:07
  some off time, but we also are always in communication
• 11:11
  with the workshop and things will, the production
• 11:14
  will... almost never stop. Uh, we, we look at
• 11:17
  the forecast for what next year's hot toys will
• 11:19
  be. We, um, start to see how things can ramp
• 11:22
  up. And we always, we always make sure that,
• 11:26
  um, that, that there's something going on except
• 11:29
  for those two weeks after Christmas, we shut
• 11:31
  everything down and everyone gets a rest. That's
• 11:34
  nice because I feel like it's a very busy time.
• 11:36
  So having a bit of a rest is important. Exactly.
• 11:40
  You can't just be go, go, go. And especially
• 11:45
  right after Christmas. You know, everyone leaves
• 11:47
  me cookies. And like I said, I visit a billion
• 11:49
  people. That's a lot of cookies to eat in one
• 11:52
  day. I do bring some home. So if you've left
• 11:56
  me cookies and they haven't been eaten, I do
• 11:58
  apologize. I may just have been a little full
• 12:00
  at that time, but, you know, a billion cookies.
• 12:03
  I love them, though. Oh, my goodness, the cookies
• 12:06
  are so good. We had a question about that. What
• 12:11
  is your favorite type of cookie? Oh, well, I
• 12:14
  have two favorite cookies, two favorite types
• 12:17
  of cookies, store -bought and homemade. That's
• 12:22
  a good answer. Yes. But generally, if someone
• 12:26
  asks me that in person, I generally turn around
• 12:28
  and find out what they're – what's your favorite
• 12:30
  cookie? My favorite cookie? I don't know. I have
• 12:33
  a lot of favorite cookies. But probably right
• 12:37
  now, they're not really like cookie cookies.
• 12:40
  They're kind of like mini. They're like Chip
• 12:42
  Ahoy cookies. And they look rainbow because they
• 12:48
  have like – Different colored M &Ms in them.
• 12:50
  Oh, those sound delicious. I love to try everyone's
• 12:54
  favorite cookie. So if everyone just left me
• 12:56
  their favorite cookie, I would get to try everyone's
• 12:58
  favorite cookies. And that would just be wonderful.
• 13:01
  Now I want to try everybody's favorite cookie
• 13:04
  too. Me too. I want to be Santa. You want to
• 13:07
  be Santa? A billion cookies. A billion cookies.
• 13:12
  How do people not wake up when you visit? Oh,
• 13:16
  well. We do have some special protection quiet
• 13:21
  magic. So, you know, even your animals don't
• 13:26
  know we're in and out. We have to go so quickly.
• 13:28
  I mean, I know we do. I did say we slow down
• 13:31
  time. But still, it's only one night. And I can
• 13:34
  only stretch things so much. So I have to be
• 13:36
  in and out very, very quickly. So I do have sort
• 13:41
  of a cloak of... of quietness around me. I can
• 13:45
  sneak in and out. You know, I've been doing this
• 13:49
  for a very long time, so most chimneys are not
• 13:53
  a hazard anymore. I can slip down and back up
• 13:55
  very quickly. If you don't have a chimney, I
• 13:58
  do have a magic key that will let me in your
• 14:01
  back door or front door or whichever door is
• 14:03
  closest to the Christmas tree. So I can get in
• 14:06
  and out pretty quickly, and the combination of
• 14:09
  speed and my Cloak of silence, that really helps.
• 14:15
  Yeah. All right. Did you have any other questions
• 14:18
  for Santa? Not really. But, like, do your reindeer
• 14:28
  eat, like, as much carrots as you eat as much
• 14:33
  cookies? Well, yes. Yes, they do. But, you know,
• 14:38
  they are working very hard. And so they need
• 14:40
  that energy. You know, even just a short hop
• 14:44
  from rooftop to rooftop requires a lot of energy.
• 14:47
  So they, you know, carrots, celery, oats, you
• 14:53
  know. Don't leave them cookies. That's not really
• 14:57
  good for reindeer digestion. But vegetables,
• 14:59
  they do love vegetables. So that really does
• 15:03
  help. So, yes, thank you for thinking of them.
• 15:07
  Yeah. Did you have any questions? I don't think
• 15:10
  so. Santa, did you have any questions for us
• 15:13
  or anything you wanted to say to the children
• 15:15
  in our area here? Now, for all the children that
• 15:18
  are listening or watching, I do want to say I
• 15:21
  hope that you are listening. Like I said, that's
• 15:26
  the best way to stay on the nice list. Stay good.
• 15:29
  And I hope that... that you have the most joyful
• 15:34
  Christmas that you can possibly have. And remember,
• 15:38
  if there's a present that you've asked for that
• 15:40
  I haven't been able to bring, just know that
• 15:42
  it's not because I didn't want to. Sometimes
• 15:47
  these things just happen. And I bring you the
• 15:50
  present that I really, a present that I really
• 15:53
  think you're going to love. So I want you to
• 15:55
  know that I do love you and that I want everyone
• 15:59
  to have the best Christmas they possibly can
• 16:02
  have. Yeah. Well, thank you, Santa. We really
• 16:05
  appreciate you talking to us today and taking,
• 16:08
  like I said, your time and sharing with us all
• 16:12
  the behind the scenes. Of Christmas. It was fantastic.
• 16:16
  This was so lovely. Thank you, ladies. I do appreciate
• 16:20
  it. It's always good to talk to friends. And
• 16:23
  I hope you two also have a wonderful holiday
• 16:26
  season. Thank you. Merry Christmas. Happy holidays,
• 16:29
  Santa. Merry Christmas to you, too.