Santa is extra busy this time of year, but the Eudora Times was able to track him down with the help of St. Nick Services to answer first graders’ pressing Christmas questions.

How are you? Blake Rooney, Jerzi Born, Layla L’Ecuyer

I’m doing great. This year’s been wonderful. Everyone seems to be on the ball and excited. Mrs. Claus is doing amazing things. Today, she’s baking with the elves. The elf crews are doing incredible amounts of work to get ready for everything, and the reindeer have been practicing, and they are top notch.

Are you cold? Harper Blake

Thank you for asking, Harper. Actually, I’m very warm right now, and when I travel, there’s a Christmas magic bubble around the sleigh that keeps me from freezing.

What is your favorite snack? Billy Springer

Billy, if you’ll keep it a secret between you and I, not tell Mrs. Claus, it’s all the cookies she makes. But I’m not supposed to eat them all, so I should say carrot sticks and broccoli.

Do you like Christmas cookies? Bri Lawson

I love Christmas cookies. If I’m lucky, Mrs. Claus lets me be her taster. One cookie per batch. Sometimes, I sneak two.

What is your favorite cookie, and what is your favorite milk? Lillian Elliot, Atlas Brooks, Koehn Mock, Ava Chrislip

This is a great question. Thank you all. If you were here, I would ask you which your favorite cookie is and listen, because I’d love to hear that. But here’s the little secret, and do keep it a secret between us: My favorite cookie is all of them. Every single one. If there’s a cookie in front of me, it’s in danger for its life.

What is your favorite reindeer? Selah Beall, Ronnie Wilson

My favorite reindeer is whatever reindeer I’m talking to at that moment. You can’t have a favorite. They’re all wonderful, and they do wonderful things. I’m very lucky.

How are your reindeer? Winnie Leach

Reindeer are doing great this year. There were a few colds earlier in late summer, but they’re all in top health, ready to go. We’ve been tuning up. They’ve been practicing night landings, so we should be just perfect.

Why does your reindeer fly? Arya Ortiz

Well, the ‘why’ is the easy part. Why, is because they need to. We have to do that in order to get around and deliver the presents. If they didn’t fly, I couldn’t make it.

How does your reindeer fly? Zelda Medlock, Scarlet Lauer

This is the harder question. The ‘how’ comes from generations of genetic blessings and little gifts found in the evolution of the reindeer, mixed with Christmas magic, and a whole lot of belief from children around the world. [They] propel us into the sky to make all our deliveries.

How do you see at night? Ronnie Brandt

The sleigh has elf technology made with Christmas magic as well as their brilliant brains, and it has a screen, much like a radar screen, on it to show me obstacles ahead. But other than that, it’s just your attentive eyesight, and the reindeer help, too. They’ve got very good eyes.

How do reindeer see in the dark? Joelle Wiswell, Avery Butler

It’s a gift that my reindeer in particular have, not all reindeer do, but the reindeer raised at the North Pole can see very well in the dark. The only time we ever have any problem is when there’s fog, and that’s when we ask Rudolph to help us.

Has your bag ever fallen off the sleigh? Waylon Zook

That’s a great question, Waylon. In reality, no, but I understand it has several times on TV shows and movies, and that makes for a great story, doesn’t it?

Why do you go in chimneys? Elsie Grovenburg

When we first started doing this, there weren’t many ways to get into an abode or house or apartment, and at that time everybody was heating with some sort of fire, so chimneys were the best way. Now, a lot of places don’t have chimneys. That’s why I always carry my magic key. It’s only good on Christmas Eve, but on Christmas Eve, it lets me in any door around the world.

How do you go down the chimney? Tucker Knoll, Emmalyn Knight

Carefully is the best answer, but I think you probably want to know a little bit more about the science involved. It’s a little like cold fission. It’s a physics property. There’s lots of room, even though you can’t see it, between the nuclei and molecules inside of a cell. It’s like the difference in room between planets. 

So, my Christmas magic allows me to compact all of that down and take advantage of all that space and open the chimneys wider for me to get down through. Now, I know some TV shows show me getting small to go down, and that’s not what happens. The chimney gets wider and I get down.

How do the elves fit to our house? Jaxson Holland

The elves don’t often come in the house. It’s normally just me. If there’s some special circumstance, then they can follow in my magic and get down the chimney. Hopefully, you won’t have to see any elves, unless you have one of those misbehaving elf on the shelves. We’re going to have to look at that program.

How do you go to so many shops at the same time? EJ Lockwood

I don’t actually go anywhere at the same time. They’re all in order. But I get there because, again, our Christmas magic, which is generated by your belief and your goodwill, allows me to change my passage through the space-time continuum. You are going the same speed, but I’m going a lot faster, and then, therefore, you almost look stopped. And I can go to four, five, or six, or seven houses, all in a millisecond.

Do you hate Grinch? Jemma Faler

Great question, Jenna. I don’t hate anybody. But there was a time I was not very happy with Mr. Grinch. But he’s since changed his ways, and is a wonderful, delightful green person. We like him just fine.

Has the Grinch come yet? Harmony Sloop

The Grinch is always around. If we’re lucky, he comes to visit like once a week. But he’s been by this season. I haven’t seen him this week, though. 

He drops in on the North Pole, and then usually talks to the elves, and they tell me he’s here, and I’ll go wherever he’s at. Sometimes the workshop, but he really likes to go by the house. I think it’s because he steals a cookie or two, reverting to his old bad ways.

How are the toys made? Octavia Pruit

Very, very carefully, and very, very well. Our toy makers are superior to any in the world, and I don’t say that modestly. It is incredible. And they can make any toy look like it was manufactured in its own plant.

Santa, can I please have a pet cat? Quinley Morris

Would you please bring me a Star Wars robot? Coy Bradstreet

Can I have 100 iPhones? Elanor Landon

Thank you all for asking. I think now would be a good time to remind everyone of how this whole situation works. Christmas and Santa are all about children behaving well, doing good deeds, minding their parents, and making sure that their place in the world is wonderful and not bad. 

When you do that, I promise you, I will bring you a gift. If I can bring you what you’ve actually asked for, I will. And if I can’t, then I will bring you something else that we think you need. But that’s dependent upon you sending me your list, and mostly by your good behavior.

Why do you get scared when you get recorded? Collin Beilman

Again, a myth from television and the movies. I’m not scared when I get recorded. It just impairs my primary mission, which is making toys, helping children behave better and delivering wonderful surprises on Christmas Eve. None of that needs recording.

How do you know if people are good or bad? Nolan Badger, Emerson Meier

That’s a very good question, and one you should ponder for most of the rest of your life. How do you know when people are bad or good? What we do at the North Pole is we watch their behavior, we ask them questions, we evaluate their answers and then watch more of how they behave. And I think that’s probably what you do, too.

Reach reporter Bella Waters at [email protected].