Santa's Workshop News

Kaia, age 9 from Honolulu, Hawaii, asks Santa for his phone number, Hawaii's volcanic islands, and the greeting Mele Kalikimaka. Dear Santa, my name is Kaia, and I am nine years old. I live in Honolulu, Hawaii, where my tutu says our whole state is made up entirely of islands formed by volcanoes a very long time ago. Dear Kaia, an entire state built from volcanoes makes for one of the most dramatic landing zones on my whole route, your tutu picked a truly spectacular hometown. Santa, I have three questions. What's Santa's phone number? My little brother wants to call you directly this year instead of writing a letter. I do not keep a phone number, Kaia, my workshop gets much better reception through letters, which I read every single one of, without fail. Tell your brother his wishes will reach me just fine the old fashioned way. My tutu says Hawaii is the only state in the entire country made up completely of islands. Is that true? It is true, Kaia, Hawaii is the only stat...

Lea, age 9, asks Baba Noel do you come on Christmas Eve like my Santa, or a different night?, about the Mediterranean Sea, and why Lebanon celebrates Christmas and Eid Dear Baba Noel, My name is Lea and I am 9 years old. I live in Beirut, Lebanon, where we string colored lights along the balconies and my grandmother roasts chestnuts on the stove every single night in December. First, do you come on Christmas Eve like my Santa, or a different night? Second, a geography question: what sea is right next to Beirut? Third, a school question about my country: why does Lebanon celebrate both Christmas and Eid? I left you a few dates and a tiny cup of mint tea. Love, Lea, age 9, Beirut, Lebanon, Beirut, Lebanon From the Desk of Baba Noel Dear Lea, thank you for the treat, it was wonderful. Now, your questions. Do you come on Christmas Eve like my Santa, or a different night? I come on Christmas Eve, the same night as my colleague Santa Claus, since our two routes overlap through this part of t...

Antoni, age 9, asks about Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, about the Vistula River, and Krakow's square Dear Santa, Czesc from Krakow. My name is Antoni and I am 9 years old. Every single Christmas Eve, no matter how sleepy I am, my whole family bundles up and walks to church for a service that starts right at midnight, and I always try my hardest to stay awake for the entire thing. My first question is: how is Christmas Eve traditionally observed with that midnight service? My second question is geography: what river runs through Krakow? My third question is from school: why is Krakow's main square considered one of the finest medieval squares in Europe? I left you pierogi, a few different kinds, and a slice of makowiec, a poppy seed roll. Love, Antoni, age 9, Krakow, Poland From the Desk of Father Christmas Dear Antoni, pierogi and makowiec made for a wonderfully filling stop, thank you very much. Now, to explain that midnight tradition properly, and your other questions. How ...

A puzzle-solver in Hartford asks why a Santa Claus rally happens, what the Connecticut River is, and how insurance works A Letter to Santa from Hartford, Connecticut Dear Santa, Hi Santa! My name is Penelope and I am 9 years old. I live in Hartford, Connecticut, a historic New England city by a river. I love reading and solving puzzles. My question is: why is there a thing called a Santa Claus rally? My geography question is: what is the Connecticut River? And my social studies question is: what is insurance, and how does it help people? Thanks, Santa! Love, Penelope (age 9) Santa's Reply Ho ho ho, hello Penelope! A puzzle solver asks a puzzling question, and I am happy to crack it for you. It is not a parade, as some folks first think! A Santa Claus rally is a phrase grown-ups use about the stock market, the place where people buy and sell small shares of companies. It is called that because it happens around Christmastime, in the last days of December into the new year, when shar...

Quem é o Pai Natal? O visitante da noite de Natal Em Portugal, o Pai Natal é a figura que traz os presentes às crianças durante a noite de 24 para 25 de dezembro. A sua imagem — homem idoso, de barba branca, casaco vermelho e saco de presentes — segue de perto a tradição internacional de Santa Claus, embora o nome português mantenha um tom mais formal e tradicional. A consoada em primeiro lugar Antes da chegada do Pai Natal, a verdadeira estrela da noite portuguesa é a consoada, a ceia familiar de 24 de dezembro, tipicamente composta por bacalhau cozido com couves e batatas, seguida de doces tradicionais como as rabanadas e o bolo-rei. Só depois da ceia, muitas vezes à meia-noite, é que os presentes são finalmente abertos. Meias na lareira, sapatos na janela As crianças portuguesas penduram meias junto à lareira ou colocam sapatos na janela, à espera que o Pai Natal as encha de presentes durante a noite. Em muitas regiões, esta tradição coexiste com celebrações católicas mais antigas, ...

Santa Claus Gives Financial Advice and It Is Shockingly Sensible When Haruto from Kyoto wrote to the North Pole asking whether lottery tickets were a reasonable retirement strategy, he did not necessarily expect a response. He certainly did not expect the response to be as thorough, as practical, and as diplomatically delivered as the one Santa eventually provided through  SantaClaus.top . Haruto's letter also asked about elf compensation, reindeer union negotiations, and mall Santas. Santa addressed all of these with characteristic patience. But it was the retirement question that lingered — because it revealed something that careful readers of North Pole correspondence have suspected for years: Santa Claus has quietly developed what amounts to a coherent and sensible personal finance philosophy, accumulated over centuries of observing what actually makes families happy versus what they thought would make them happy when they wrote their wish lists. Santa's Core Financial Pr...

Wer ist das Christkind? Ein Engel statt eines alten Mannes In weiten Teilen Süddeutschlands, Österreichs und der katholisch geprägten Schweiz bringt nicht der Weihnachtsmann die Geschenke, sondern das Christkind: eine engelhafte, meist blond gelockte Gestalt mit Flügeln und einem goldenen Gewand. Anders als der bärtige Weihnachtsmann ist das Christkind unsichtbar. Es klingelt kurz, und wenn die Kinder ins Zimmer kommen, sind die Geschenke bereits unter dem Baum, der Bote selbst aber längst verschwunden. Eine Erfindung Martin Luthers Die Figur geht auf Martin Luther zurück, der im 16. Jahrhundert versuchte, die Verehrung des katholischen Heiligen Nikolaus durch eine christuszentrierte Gestalt zu ersetzen. Ironischerweise hat sich das Christkind vor allem in katholischen Regionen durchgesetzt, während im protestantischen Norden Deutschlands heute eher der Weihnachtsmann dominiert. Der Nürnberger Christkindlesmarkt Nirgendwo ist das Christkind präsenter als in Nürnberg, wo jed...

Rodrigo from Havana, Cuba Dear Santa, My name is Rodrigo and I am thirteen years old. I live in Havana, Cuba. We do not officially celebrate Christmas here the way other countries do — it was banned for a long time, though they allow some of it now, depending on who is watching. My grandmother has always celebrated it in secret, with a candle and a prayer and sometimes a small gift she made herself. She says Christmas belongs to the people and no government can permanently take away what belongs to the people. I believe her. I have heard that 2026 is America's 250th birthday. In school we are taught that America is an imperialist country that exploits poor nations and that everything bad in Cuba is America's fault. But my uncle who left for Miami in 2003 calls us every week on a phone he sent us, and he does not sound like a man living in an exploited country. He sounds like a man who cannot stop talking about his small business, his neighborhood, his freedom to say what he...

Archie  from Leeds, England Dear Santa, My name is Archie and I am thirteen years old. I live in Leeds, England, which my grandad says used to make all the wool for the whole British Empire, which I think is brilliant even if there is no longer a British Empire and the wool mills are now mostly flats. Santa, I need your help settling a fashion argument that has been going on in my friend group for three weeks and is causing serious problems. The argument is about Polo Ralph Lauren. My friend Connor says wearing a Ralph Lauren polo shirt is just showing off and trying to be posh, which he says with the specific tone of someone who secretly wants one. My friend Priya says it is a classic piece of well-made clothing and there is nothing wrong with appreciating quality. My friend Dom says it doesn't matter what it is because the logo is "played out," which he says about everything now because he read one article about fashion and considers himself an expert. I have severa...

Merry Christmas Images Dear Santa, My name is Sofia and I am eleven years old. I live in Phoenix, Arizona, where it is sunny and seventy degrees on Christmas Day every single year, which means our Christmas card pictures never have snow in them, which my cousin in Minnesota thinks is "not real Christmas," which I find extremely rude considering Phoenix has been around a lot longer than my cousin's opinion. For school we have to make a Christmas image for the art show and I started looking up "Merry Christmas images" online for ideas and there were millions of them and they all looked kind of the same — same red, same snow, same you, basically — and I started wondering why. I have three questions. Why do almost all Christmas images look the same, even though Christmas is celebrated so many different ways around the world? Why does Arizona have so many deserts and cactuses when other states do not? Why do certain images become "the" image of someth...

Lena from Ohio Asks Santa About Christmas Markets Dear Santa, My name is Lena and I am eleven years old. I live in Cincinnati, Ohio, and every December my family goes to the Cincinnati Christkindlmarkt downtown, where we drink hot chocolate and my dad always tries the bratwurst and says it is "almost as good as the real thing" even though he has never actually been to Germany, which my mom points out every single year and he ignores every single year. I have three questions. Where did Christmas markets actually come from and are they as old as they seem? Why do so many German towns claim to have "the oldest" Christmas market, and how do we know which one is really first? Why did European countries split into Catholic and Protestant regions, and did that affect how Christmas is celebrated? Thank you. Lena Marie Hoffmann Cincinnati, Ohio Dear Lena, Your father's annual bratwurst claim and your mother's annual correction of it is, I will tell you, o...

  Can you tell me about the Capitol Christmas Tree? Maya From Washington, D.C. Dear Santa, My name is Maya and I am ten years old. I live in Washington, D.C., which my dad says is the only city in America that is not actually part of any state, which I find slightly unfair to D.C. but also kind of cool, like we are our own thing. Every year my class takes a field trip to see the Capitol Christmas Tree and this year I had a lot of questions about it that nobody on the trip could answer. I have three questions. Why does the Capitol Christmas Tree come from a different state every single year instead of just staying the same tree like a normal Christmas tree? Why doesn't Washington, D.C. get to vote for president like the fifty states do, even though the Capitol is right here? Where exactly is Idaho, where this year's tree is from, and why is it shaped so strangely? Thank you. Maya Renee Thompson Washington, D.C. Dear Maya, A ten-year-old who notices that D.C. is ...

Nadia from Jakarta, Indonesia Wants to Know the Purpose of Christmas Dear Santa, My name is Nadia and I am eleven years old. I live in Jakarta, Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world by population, which my teacher told us with what I think was pride. My family is Muslim. We do not celebrate Christmas, but my apartment building has a Christmas tree in the lobby every December because some of our neighbours are Christian, and my best friend Clara is Catholic and her family invited me to see their nativity scene last year, which was beautiful and which I had many questions about. I have several questions for you. What is the actual purpose of Christmas? Why is Indonesia made of so many islands and how many are there really? Why do some countries have one main religion and others have many? Thank you. Nadia Putri Wijaya Jakarta, Indonesia Dear Nadia, A Muslim girl in Jakarta who went to see her Catholic friend's nativity scene and came away with genuine questio...

  How Fast Is Santa's Sleigh? How fast is Santa's sleigh? To deliver gifts to children all around the world in a single night, Santa's sleigh has to move faster than any aircraft, faster than sound, and faster than the human mind can easily picture. The exact speed is one of the North Pole's best-kept secrets, but a little thought about the size of the task reveals just how astonishing that velocity has to be. The speed is not about showing off. It exists for one reason: to make sure no child anywhere is ever missed. The math behind the miracle Consider the scale. There are hundreds of millions of homes to visit, spread across every continent and ocean, and only a single night to reach them all. Even if Santa spent the briefest possible moment at each stop, the distances between them would still require a sleigh that covers enormous stretches of the globe in the blink of an eye. Ordinary travel simply cannot account for it. This is where Christmas folklore offers its an...