11 Months Until Christmas

There are 11 months until Christmas, friends. Can you believe we are already a full month into the New Year? Well, a full month for us.

11 months from today we’ll be tracking Santa again.

The North Pole is just a big machine that keeps on rolling. We never stop.

Just last week North Pole Flight Command announced that the reindeer are starting their annual migration away from the North Pole. They leave us now and come back again sometime between late August and Thanksgiving.

It happens every year.

Why do they leave?

North Pole Flight Command gave a scientific kind of explanation. But I’ll just say Santa wants them to be back home where they come from with their families. Families are important to everyone, even reindeer.

Does that mean ALL the reindeer leave?

No. There are a few reindeer who are from here and they stay here. But there are thousands of reindeer from around the world who do not live here but who work for Santa. And they all leave.

Reindeer are kind of like elves. We are from all over.

For me, and other elves in the News Department here at the North Pole, this 11th month marker is an important one. This is the time of year where the news elves gather to talk about how to deliver the news and to share the story of Santa, the North Pole and elf life in the months ahead.

Like all elves, our work is never done.

Since Christmas we have received a lot of mail here at the North Pole. Most of it, as always, is for Santa. And most letters in January thank Santa for all he did this past Christmas.

But we still get letters in the News Department and those letters have questions. It is our job to provide answers and we usually use our updates, podcasts and news articles to answer those questions.

We cannot do our job without your letters. So please keep them coming.

I try, with each monthly Santa Update that I write, to answer the most common questions we receive.

January questions are the hardest. Many of them center on why Santa did or did not bring something special that was asked for for Christmas.

I have a hard time with those kinds of questions. That is because most of the time there are personal reasons for someone not receiving what they wanted for Christmas. It is hard to answer that question in a way that every one can understand.

Santa knows all this, of course. After Christmas every year, after Santa has had a good nap, he will mosey over to my office to have what we call “the talk”. It is the same conversation every year.

“Now, Ernest,” Santa will say, “You be patient with those who write in complaining a little bit about what they didn’t get for Christmas. You tell them that Santa still loves them and wants them to be happy. You tell them that sometimes I cannot bring what they want because what they want is not good for them or is not good for the people around them.”

That is Santa’s standard thing. He tells me this every year.

For some, especially the very young, it is not a thing so easily understood.

But, like I said, the News Department is a machine. We keep moving. And you should keep moving, too.

If Santa did not bring you what you wanted for Christmas this year then take it up with Santa again for next year. When you see him, talk to him about it.

And while it is the job of the News Department to answer questions please realize we cannot answer all questions, especially those of an individual nature like what you got for Christmas and why.

I don’t like getting those questions but Santa does. That’s his job and he loves it.

And he loves you too.

Never forget that.