Hello, friends! Ten months remain until Christmas and we’re still talking about last Christmas.

It seems the mail coming in to the North Pole this time of year is centered on sleighs and snow. We want to answer some of those questions.

Snow is on the minds of many because it is winter, and apparently a tough winter, in many northern areas of the world.

A city councilman from Duluth, Minnesota in the USA – where I guess they get a lot of snow – has written to the North Pole for advice about sleighs. He thinks that city should get reindeer and a fleet of sleighs to use as city vehicles, claiming they would be more efficient than whatever they currently use.

We do not advise this, even though this is what we do at the North Pole. Sleighs and reindeer work for us because we get heavy snow year-round. Streets at the North Pole aren’t even paved because they are always covered with snow.

Yes, we have some cars and trucks here. But not many. And most elves get around in a sleigh.

But Duluth is not the North Pole. In fact, no other place is the North Pole. That’s why some this month are writing in with questions about sleighs and why Santa uses a sleigh at Christmas in places that do not get snow.

A sleigh is a simple vehicle. It’s an open sleigh, meaning there is no top to it. That makes it not only very quick to get in and out of for Santa it also makes it very convenient to load.

It also makes it much easier to deal with in warm weather. Santa loves “the top down”, so to speak.

Flying reindeer are what really makes a sleigh usable in any climate. The sleigh just doesn’t spend much time on the ground.

But Santa’s sleigh is not just any sleigh. It does, of course, spend some time on the ground and much of that time the ground has no snow on it. There are special – even secret – design elements about the sleigh that I cannot disclose. These special capabilities make it so that Santa’s sleigh can roll on ground with no snow.

Right now, teams of engineers, pilots and sleigh designers are locked inside offices at North Pole Flight Command while the snow flies here at the North Pole. Their job is to get ready a new sleigh for Santa, one that features the most advanced features of any sleigh in the world to be piloted by the foremost sleigh pilot on the face of the earth, Santa Claus.

Just because Santa uses a sleigh does not mean others elsewhere need to. Yes, it is a “green” vehicle. But it is very complex and highly specialized.

I hope this answers your big questions about sleighs. Keep sending in those thoughts and questions if I have not addressed them here.

See ya!