Where does Santa Claus live? The obvious answer is the North Pole, but that does not tell you the country of residence. This is a disputed bit of territory, a piece of land which three countries - Canada, Russia and Denmark - are fighting to claim. Whether it's due to resource exploration or a battle for the best toys remains unclear, but the result could affect the nationality of a certain large bearded man.
This country has not been shy about trying to claim Claus for our own. Canada Post, for example, has given him a postal code and a Canadian address, even going so far as requesting kids note Canada on the front of their envelope. The message is clear, the North Pole is part of Canada, and thus we have claim to Santa Claus, all the elves, and any and all tax revenue generated from his Christmas operations. The latest efforts to claim the North Pole officially, coming in December, only reinforce that Canada has been aiming to officially take command of the jolly old elf. Perhaps the plan is to get the claim complete by Christmas time, so our children can finally claim the best toys available, or perhaps even going so far as to denying gifts for countries we might consider to be on the naughty list.
Canada's claim does have some problems, the biggest being that the area is not completely explored. This might be due to the extreme cold and remoteness of the area, or due to the interference of flying antlered creatures, but until the area is completely explored it will be difficult to accurately say which country it belongs to. As well, some geologists are uncertain that Canada's claim has merit, suggesting that the pole itself is likely on Denmark's land mass. Until the region is fully explored, we can't make any clear claims on who actually possesses the pole.
Claus himself was clearly born in Europe, as since he is hundreds of years old his existence pre-dates the founding of Canada itself. Of the three countries involved in the dispute over the North Pole, Denmark is the one most likely to have granted him citizenship, and it has had a traditional bearded gift-bearer since the early 19th century. That nationality can be tricky, however, since Claus himself comes from a number of different sources which have only become one man relatively recently. Saint Nicholas, for example, is from Turkey and is buried in Italy, two places quite far from the North Pole. Probably the closest to our modern Santa would be Sinterklaas in Holland, but he actually arrives each year on a steam boat from Spain. If we consider these two gift-giving individuals the ancestors of our Father Christmas, his nationality becomes quite varied, and his actual citizenship would be open to debate no matter where his base of operations actually lies.
Then again, it's entirely possible that Claus himself could claim to be the leader of a sovereign nation. At the bare minimum, he's likely considered to be part of maritime law, as the North Pole is in the middle of the Arctic Ocean and any structures could be technically considered a form of boat. If pressed, Claus could even float out to international waters, meaning that this entire dispute would be over boring things like natural resources and political grabs for territory, rather than the rather whimsical debate over whose country provides residency for a mythical toy-delivering fat man.
