Exclusive: Interview with Santa Claus

Santa Claus is a very busy elf, but between appearances at the Yorkton Christmas Parade and taking pictures with kids at the Parkland Mall, Yorkton This Week’s Thom Barker caught up with the jolly old elf for an exclusive interview.

YTW: You seem to be everywhere. You’re in parades and malls all over the world, you do movies and so much more. Everybody wants to know, how do you do it all?

SC: Santa over the years has trained Santa elves. Santa elves look like Santa, but they’re not Santa, they’re kind of filling in until I get there. I run around and I do all these different places, but then Santa elves move in. That’s how we do it. It’s kind of like you said, movies, it’s trickery, it’s magic.

YTW: You have a big job. What would you say is the most rewarding thing about it?

SC: The children. It’s all about the kids. It’s the twinkle in their eyes and the smile on their face and the cards they send and the cookies and milk and waving and looking in awe at good old happy Santa Claus.

YTW: What is the most difficult thing about it?

SC: Trying to keep my weight off (laughs). Actually, it’s probably Christmas Eve. Luckily I’ve got some good elves up at the North Pole, but hooking up the Reindeer and getting the sled loaded and Mrs. Claus putting together a real nice meal to get me through the night and then flying all over the world in just a matter of hours and giving boys and girls their presents for Christmas morning. That’s the hardest part, that’s the real work.

YTW: I understand you are going to have a military escort this year. Does that help?

SC: It does. It gets me through those commercial jet lanes because commercial jet lanes tend to go east-west, north-south and I kind of zigzag. It kind of looks like my GPS is off kilter as I manoeuvre through the sky. So if it wasn’t for the Canadian Forces and the jet fighters and the radar installations getting me through, I don’t know if I’d make it through most of Canada. And I’m going to be really confused this year down in the States with Mr. Trump.

YTW: There was at least one year that you ran into some very bad fog. How do you deal with poor weather?

SC: You know, I’m really lucky because I’ve got Rudolph and when that nose of his glows oh so bright, he just guides my sleigh and we get to where we need to go. It doesn’t matter really, the weather, it can get a bit cold and it can be windy and we can go through snow, but not all parts of the world are snowy and cold. We go down to Florida and cut across and go through Texas and the panhandle and different things, so we do hit some nice weather and I think that’s why we zig and zag. When we get a little cold, we go somewhere warm, thaw out and then come back to different parts of Canada.

YTW: Is it true that before that foggy Christmas Eve the other reindeer used to laugh and call Rudolph names and wouldn’t let him play in any reindeer games?

SC: They actually did, but we put a stop to that. We told them, you’ve got a historical reason for being here and Rudolph is the guy who heads up the sleigh, gets us through the night to our appointed rounds and works really hard at doing that, that’s his responsibility. He’s kind of the navigator, I guess and the other reindeer are the motor, the engine that keeps us going. They’ve got an important job to do and for them to fool around and call each other names, that’s almost like bullying and I won’t have any of that. And I encourage all the boys and girls not to do it either.

YTW: I guess the other reindeer were on the naughty list that year?

SC: Well, you know, I cut back on their oats just a little bit, just to teach them a lesson, but a couple of days after Christmas I gave in because they need their energy.

YTW: Do you have a favourite reindeer?

SC: I kind of lean towards Rudoph. He’s been with me forever and ever and ever and as long as that nose burns as red as mine, we’re going to make it through the night.

YTW: Can you tell us who is on the naughty and nice lists in Yorkton this year?

SC: Well, that would be wrong, but I can tell you that you’re doing okay. You’re doing okay, but that [editor of Yorkton This Week] Calvin Daniels guy, he wanted a new Frisbee, but I just gave him a full set of frisbees and I don’t know what he did with them. Maybe he sat on them, maybe he left them in those things he throws them at, I don’t know, but he asked for a big orange Frisbee so I think I am going to mess with him and give him a blue one.

YTW: Do you have any message you would like to impart to people for the new year?

SC: Just that it’s going to be an interesting year. With a new prime minister in Canada and a new president in the United States and all the activities around the world, I don’t want to sound like a beauty pageant contestant, but world peace would be just wonderful for old Santa Claus.