Sleighs, Flights and Christmas in July
Elf Ed Zachary hosted Elf Ernest, Santa’s Senior Vice President of Public Relations, and Elf Crash Murphy, International Director of Santa Trackers, in a chat event to discuss events coming up at the North Pole, including the celebration of Leon Day, the test flights of Santa’s sleigh, and the competition between Santa and Mrs. Claus going on right now. Here is the transcript of that chat:
| Elf Ed Zachary | Our chat today will begin at the top of the hour |
| Crash Murphy | Hello, Mr. Zachary! |
| Elf Ed Zachary | Greetings, Mr. Murphy |
| Crash Murphy | I had no idea you were hosting today. Good surprise! |
| Elf Ed Zachary | I guarantee I was not the first choice |
| Crash Murphy | Oh? So how did this happen? |
| Elf Ed Zachary | I am not sure…Elf Ernest can’t be the host and the guest, and I think he’s usually the guy, right? |
| Crash Murphy | Yes, usually. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | Elf Frank is his backup and I hear he’s out of town. And Elf Max had stuff going on |
| Elf Ed Zachary | So here I am! |
| Crash Murphy | Well, I think that’s a good thing. It’s awesome to have you here. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | I’m not sure how many we will have here today. I am seeing several dozen in “watch” mode….whatever that means |
| Crash Murphy | It means they see the chat but are not logged in. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | Oh…okay |
| Elf Ed Zachary | I usually only do one or two chats a year so I’m not as familiar with this set up |
| Crash Murphy | I’m sure they have someone on the back end keeping track of things for you. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | They do, not sure who it is though. |
| Crash Murphy | Things seem to be working fine. I think we’re okay to begin |
| Elf Ed Zachary | Ok, we’ll get started. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | Hello, everyone! I’m Elf Ed Zachary, Director of News at the North Pole and we welcome you to North Pole Chat today! |
| Elf Ed Zachary | We have two key elves here today to chat with us. First up is Elf Ernest, Santa’s Vice President of Public Relations and, actually, he’s my boss |
| Elf Ed Zachary | He’s here to discuss events relating to Christmas in July. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | We also have Elf Crash Murphy, International Director of Santa Trackers, and he’s here to catch us up on the news of tracking Santa this year |
| Elf Ed Zachary | Gentlemen, let’s begin with Elf Ernest. |
| Elf Ernest | Hello, Mr. Zachary. Thank you for having me here today. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | Ernest, what can you tell us about Christmas in July? |
| Elf Ernest | Christmas in July is a traditional event at the North Pole. We have many plans, both online and offline. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | When does it begin? |
| Elf Ernest | Thank you for asking that question. It actually begins on Leon Day, which is June 24th. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | So Christmas in July starts in June? |
| Elf Ernest | Yes, odd as that sounds. It does. Leon Day marks the halfway point to Christmas and that’s always a favorite event at the North Pole. And it is the traditional first event of Christmas in July. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | What happens on Leon Day? |
| Elf Ernest | Everything is done backwards on that day because Leon is Noel spelled backwards. It’s a silly, fun day. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | Ok, is there anything planned online for that day? |
| Elf Ernest | We will likely meet here in North Pole chat that day. The schedule is coming out soon. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | Will we chat backwards? |
| Elf Ernest | Hahaha, no…I think that might be too hard, it would be for me. I get mixed up when people try to talk backwards that day! |
| Elf Ed Zachary | What else happens with Christmas in July? |
| Elf Ernest | We have a number of events here at the North Pole. There is the Carol-thon, the Eggnog Chug, the dunking booth, the elf toss, the replay of Santa’s flight on the radio – all kinds of stuff. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | What’s the purpose of all this stuff? |
| Elf Ernest | It’s all about getting in the mood for Christmas. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | Do you think this distracts at all from getting READY for Christmas? |
| Elf Ernest | No, it never has. We’ve never had to cancel Christmas in July because it got in the way. And it appears Santa has this year well in hand so far too. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | Crash, does Christmas in July mean anything for tracking Santa? |
| Crash Murphy | Yeah, it does. Leon Day is kind of a big marker on the calendar for us. That’s when a lot of trackers come back. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | Come back? Where have they been? |
| Crash Murphy | Well, many of them are in school and school is now out. Many, like elves at the North Pole, take some vacation time and start to look to tracking Santa again |
| Elf Ed Zachary | Oh, I see. So they kind of use Christmas in July to get started on the new tracking season? |
| Crash Murphy | Yes, that’s it. They start to hang their maps, look for Regional Tracking center announcements and, of course, they check out all the news your department puts out about Santa |
| Elf Ed Zachary | Is there news for trackers right now? |
| Crash Murphy | A little bit. One exciting thing, we’ve got a very ambitious elf named Elf Westover who is doing video news reporting and starting a new podcast |
| Elf Ed Zachary | Yes, I’ve heard about that. |
| Crash Murphy | I did some stuff with him the past few days and that’ll be out soon. He asks a lot of the same questions you are |
| Crash Murphy | We have news coming about the regional tracking centers, about the test flights of Santa’s sleigh, about the Team Red and Team Pink thing going on right now…. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | Is that race thing between Santa and Mrs. Claus really a race? |
| Crash Murphy | They don’t want it to be but elves have kind of made it like that. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | Didn’t Trixie just post that Team Pink is dominating that event? |
| Crash Murphy | They are, but what she DID NOT report is that these races are going on for a while and they are moving from the North Pole to the tropics |
| Elf Ed Zachary | What does that mean for the competition? |
| Crash Murphy | I’m not sure, really. But the conditions are changing so I think the results might be as well. One thing I can tell you is that Rudolph is big mad. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | He is? Why? |
| Crash Murphy | Because the boys haven’t won a race yet. And I think he’s getting a bit cheesed about that. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | Is that why you think the results are going to change? |
| Crash Murphy | You bet, I have a feeling Donner is not too happy either. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | What about Santa and Mrs. Claus. What do they think? |
| Crash Murphy | They think people are making too big of a deal about this. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | Do you really think Santa wants to lose? |
| Crash Murphy | Oh, not on your life. But how do you go out to beat your WIFE? |
| Elf Ed Zachary | Well…that’s a good point. But how do you keep the reindeer happy too? |
| Crash Murphy | Good point. |
| Elf Ernest | I don’t think Santa sees it as a competition against Mrs. Claus. It’s his team against her team. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | So what does that mean? |
| Elf Ernest | I think that means we’re going to see Santa win a few races here. |
| Crash Murphy | I agree. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | Ernest, have you talked to Santa about this thing? It is pretty unusual and I think the casual reader here at [link src=”SantaUpdate.com”] is confused about the real test flights of Santa’s sleigh and this race thing. |
| Elf Ernest | Yes, I’ve talked to Santa about it. He actually wishes the News Department didn’t even bring this thing up. It was something he wanted to do privately. |
| Crash Murphy | Well, I don’t think it was the News Department that publicized it. It was the Reindeer Department who talked about it first. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | Yes, that’s true, it was the Reindeer Operations people who got all excited to see so many reindeer so early in the year. |
| Crash Murphy | Yeah, so elves started talking, that got to reporters and here we are. |
| Elf Ernest | Right. And Santa just wanted to do a simple fun test with these crazy sleighs. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | Why are they called “crazy sleighs”? |
| Elf Ernest | Because they aren’t intended to be serious sleigh designs that Santa would actually use. These are radical designs to see what more a sleigh can do in the sky. But Santa could not use one of these sleighs on his actual Christmas flight. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | Why not? |
| Elf Ernest | Well, for one, they are really small. They can’t hold anything other than a pilot. And that pilot is almost on his back to fly it. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | The pilot lays down? |
| Elf Ernest | Yes, the cock pit uses what they call a flat design, which “flattens” out the profile of the sleigh, causing the pilot to nearly lay down completely. The design wraps around the pilot’s body but it’s all done to make it like a knife in the sky |
| Elf Ed Zachary | A knife in the sky? What does that mean? |
| Crash Murphy | I’ve seen it Mr. Zachary. It’s means it cuts through the sky without making a ripple. Hardly any resistance, so it is more “slippery”. Faster. |
| Elf Ernest | yes, that’s right. It’s about learning how to go faster. That’s all this is. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | So what’s all this about boy reindeer and girl reindeer? |
| Crash Murphy | That’s a separate thing. Because this design is so new Mrs. Claus felt it was a good opportunity to test some theories about reindeer gender and flight capabilities. No reindeer have ever flown a sleigh like this before. So they start on equal ground, so to speak, and measure the results. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | Interesting. |
| Crash Murphy | Yeah, it really is. Mrs. Claus has had this idea for years and when Santa built this sleigh in red she asked him to make one for her in pink and that’s how this all got started. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | So these sleighs are NOT part of the test flights for this year? |
| Elf Ernest | No, not at all. Santa’s regular sleigh, which gets redesigned and tested every year, is on it’s way as usual, using the regular test flight reindeer and pilots that Flight Command always uses. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | And how is that going so far? |
| Elf Ernest | They just got started test flights, I think this next week they will head out from the North Pole and start flying in other places. We expect an announcement any day now. |
| Elf Ed Zachary | Okay, thank you. Interesting and full information here this morning. Thank you both for being here. Any final words? |
| Crash Murphy | I invite everyone to come over to SantaTrackers.net, as we have news coming this week, plus the new podcast from Elf Westover. |
| Elf Ernest | Yes, and I would remind everyone that since we are now under 200 days until Santa’s launch, NorthPoleFlightCommand.com is going to be publishing news about the test flights. |
| Elf Ernest | And, of course, there are more updates coming from SantaUpdate.com |
| Elf Ed Zachary | Thanks. Sounds like Operation Merry Christmas 2024 is well underway. Thank you, men. |
| Crash Murphy | Bye everyone! |
| Elf Ernest | Thank you, Mr. Zachary. Great chat! |
| Elf Ed Zachary | Thank you everyone for being here! |
Thank you, Elf Winslow! I really wanted to join this chat. Unfortunately, Elf Westover and I couldn’t get into the chat room, but I’m glad to read the recap immediately! The cockpit in Santa’s sleigh sounds so cool. Does Mrs. Claus fly her sleigh on her back, too? The sleighs are flying faster than the reindeer, lol. I hope Santa will make his boy reindeer relax and happy; otherwise, they may get injured to win.
I look forward to hearing the new podcast and events soon and joining the chat next time! For Leon Day’s chat, how about Santa or the elves at the North Pole ask the tracker elves around the world with the opposite style? Lol. Anyway, Merry Christmas in July! XD
Lots of great information came out of this chat! I really hope Rudolph gets to win a race soon, especially if he’s so upset about it. I can’t wait for the news and events of Christmas in July and beyond! Thank you for posting this!