The Journal had a chance to speak with Santa and find out some of his secrets before the big day when he made a stop at one of the area's pre-Christmas events.
One of these secrets is how to get on the famous “nice list”.
“One of the things about being on the nice list is to listen to your parents, listen to your teachers and listen to all the grownups around you,” Santa said. “The naughty list is a pretty short list and sometimes people make it to the naughty list but during the year they do some pretty good things and so they end up being back on the nice list. So the naughty list, by Christmas Day, the naughty list is pretty short.”
He states that he cannot disclose who is on the naughty list.
“The rules of employment is definitely that you have to be confidential,” Santa said. “So I don’t want to mention anybody on the naughty list but there is a couple, certainly, no I better not mention any gentleman in the United States.”
Many people wonder how Santa can travel the world in one night.
“There are different things. I got a little bit of magic in my body, a little magic and a little luck. Sometimes we just barely miss being seen by the skin of our teeth, but also, remember; there is a time difference in the world. So it’s a little easier. Everybody has a little different time so we can kind of use the time zones to our advantage as well.”
Leaving cookies and milk for Santa is a tradition in many homes, but doesn’t it get tiring to eat them all?
“Tummy does get a little full, I can’t lie on that one,” Santa said. “But you know what? I tell you, milk is really good for a person and even in your old age, milk is really great for your bones and the calcium in milk is really great for getting strong and healthy bones so I can never get enough milk.”
While cookies may seem repetitive for him at times he finds each household has a different taste.
“But sometimes the cookies get a little tiresome, but everybody makes cookies differently, and Mrs. Claus, while she is a pretty good cook, some of these bakers, some of the parents out there, and some of the kids too – some of them make pretty good cookies. So I got to sample everybody’s cookies. And remember I don’t always eat all the cookie at every house.”
Santa said if he just takes one bite it doesn’t mean it isn’t tasty.
“My mother taught me when you take a bite and you leave it that’s a compliment,” Santa said. “That means that it’s really good, but I just had time to take a bite. And sometimes if I have time I’ll eat them all, if I had a little more time, if the elves were helping me a little bit. And sometimes I share a bite or two with some of the elves if they’re helping me.”
After Christmas he usually likes to take the workshop out for a vacation.
“Of course I spend a lot of the year with the elves, we do a little vacation right after Christmas,” Santa said. “Of course because everybody needs some time off.”
The location of this vacation can be anywhere in the world.
“Sometimes we go to some place that is warm, far off places like Mexico for a week. Most of the time we just stay close to home.”
After his vacation it’s right back to work.
“After a little vacation we start making toys so I got to be checking my naughty and nice list, and of course I have some elves to help me with that too. I got to make sure everybody keeps on top of who is naughty and who is nice.”
Santa said that while he may be old, he hasn’t considered retiring.
“I don’t even know how old I am anymore, so retirement really doesn’t seem to be an option. Why would a person give up, as long as you can do the job and as long as you’re fit enough to do the job, why would you ever give it up? So I’m going to do it forever. It has got huge benefits, like the admiration of children, like having kids love you and look up to you – it’s pretty cool.”
