29 Weeks Until Christmas

Hi guys! There are just 29 weeks until Christmas left.

It has been a quiet week at the North Pole.

Actually, no it has not been a quiet week. It’s really been very busy. It’s just been all business.

The test flights of Santa’s sleigh have started, as you likely already know. I keep getting questions about them and really there is not a lot of news to report.

The test flights always begin very local. They like to keep that brand new sleigh kind of close to home, just in case there are big problems.

Well, there are not any big problems. In fact, the word I get is that the thing flies really well. The elves over at Flight Command are “over the moon” with the new sleigh and are saying this design is a winner for Santa right out of the gate. I am told the test pilots cannot wait to get it out there to other parts of the world so they can really let it fly.

I get questions, too, about the test flight reindeer.

I wish I had more I could tell you about them. But these test flights are all about the sleigh and we get little word about the reindeer. No, they won’t let me go see Trixie while she is working, so I have to wait until there’s a break in the schedule.

That is going to come around Leon Day, which is later this month.

Leon Day is really a big deal at the North Pole because it is the unofficial launch of Christmas in July. There are lots of plans about that coming out soon in the news. But for me, personally, the big news is that I get to see Trixie for a few days.

It was also a busy week for “business” reasons around here. You see, Leon Day isn’t just a party around here, it is also an important milestone on the countdown to Christmas calendar. It’s half-way to Christmas, and that means certain things already have to be done.

Mrs. Claus is scheduling big meetings with all the head elves in every department for the week right after Leon Day. They all have to report on how things are going. Of course, more has to happen after Leon Day than before but for Mrs. Claus to keep Operation Merry Christmas on track she needs to know where everyone stands.

And then, of course, there’s the Santa thing.

Santa is okay. We think.

Since all that activity last month we have not heard from him. Mrs. Claus tells me this happens a lot when Santa goes on walkabout. She can go weeks at a time without hearing from him.

She says this usually means Santa is busy with something. Could he be at the summer camp thing already? Mrs. Claus does not think so. She thinks Santa had something else planned and is busy doing that thing, just to throw off the elves who are searching for him.

Well, whatever it is, it’s working. Right now the search teams are all stumped. They haven’t had a hot lead in the search for Santa in weeks. They, too, are wanting him to check in with Mrs. Claus just so they can come up with something new to try.

They are working. But nobody has anything new in the search.

Mrs. Claus says that Santa is likely having the time of his life knowing that no one can find him. Santa, she says, is very competitive.

That tells me she is not worried. No, Mrs. Claus is very focused right now and is keeping everyone here at the North Pole hopping.

So if she’s not worried, she must know that Santa is just fine.

And that’s it, kids. There’s your countdown update for this week. I’m sure we’ll have more breaking news for you in the days ahead.