How Does Santa Visit a Billion Houses in One Night? (And Other Questions Kids Actually Asked)

Ever wondered how Santa actually pulls off Christmas Eve, or what he does the other 364 days of the year? In this special holiday episode of our Behind the Village podcast, we sit down with the man himself, Santa Claus, to get answers to the questions kids (and adults) have been asking for generations.

Santa reveals the surprising blend of Christmas magic and modern technology he uses to visit every house, shares which reindeer might secretly be his favourite, and settles the great cookie debate once and for all. You’ll hear about tropical post-Christmas vacations, year-round reindeer training, the secret to staying on the nice list, and his heartfelt message to children everywhere. Whether you’re watching with kids who still believe or you’re curious about the logistics of global gift delivery, this conversation brings the magic of Christmas to life.

Please note that this transcript was made using AI and it may not be entirely accurate.

00;00;05;03 – 00;00;29;08
Unknown
Hi, Santa. Oh. Hello, McKinnon. I know you. What’s your name again? I forgot your name. Akira. Akira. Oh my goodness. I I’ve been so busy. Things are going so crazy here at the North Pole. You know, we’re we’re less than two months out from the big day, so, so much is going on that sometimes my head just gets away from me.

00;00;29;09 – 00;00;54;07
Unknown
I apologize, Akira. My my sincerest apologies that I should have recognized you straight away. Uche. Well, thank you for taking some time out of your busy, busy Christmas time schedule to talk to us. It’s my pleasure. It’s always good to talk to two good friends. We had some questions for you, and we actually had some questions from some local kids too, and we were wondering if you’d be okay to answer them for us.

00;00;54;13 – 00;01;24;00
Unknown
I would love to. Nothing too difficult, I hope. I don’t think so. Okay. Do you want to ask the first one? Sure. How do you visit every house in one night? Very well, thank you. No, I think, you know, it takes a lot of planning. We spend all year planning the route. We do have some modern technology in the sleigh, some GPS units, and, you know, satellite tracking.

00;01;24;02 – 00;01;48;17
Unknown
But, there really is some, some very powerful Christmas magic that gets used, and, you know, portals open up and we go through and we can appear, and there’s, you know, we I, I do have some magic, but it’s only good on Christmas Eve, so I, you know, I can do things like slow time down a little bit.

00;01;48;19 – 00;02;07;07
Unknown
I can make sure that everyone’s asleep when I arrive. We just sort of stretch the laws of space and time a little bit. That makes sense. And we did have some questions about that. So I like that you’ve touched on it because there were a few things we were unclear about with how Christmas Eve comes together. So that’s perfect.

00;02;07;13 – 00;02;38;03
Unknown
Perfect. Well, fire away. Which range is your favorite and why? Oh, that is such a hard question. Oh my goodness. They’re all so lovely. They all they they pull equally hard. I mean, you know, Rudolph’s got his own song and everything, and he’s very special. He leads the team on those foggy, cloudy nights. And, I also rely on him to do some training during the reindeer games as well.

00;02;38;03 – 00;03;04;28
Unknown
So I, you know, as as as load as I am to say that I have a favorite. You know, Rudolph does, Rudolph does a lot of work. And, you know, Blitzen. Blitzen. She runs very, very fast. And, and as well as Dasher and, Cupid. But she’s just lovely. Yes. Oh, that’s so nice.

00;03;04;28 – 00;03;26;15
Unknown
I’d love to meet all the reindeer that they sell. So nice. They really are. But they work so hard, and, they, when it’s not Christmas Eve, they’re there’s. They spend a lot of their time training, you know, they, they have to be able to jump up onto house tops and, and jump from roof to roof. And, they are very, very busy, all year round.

00;03;26;15 – 00;03;42;03
Unknown
And, I rely on them for, for almost everything, you know, that makes a lot of sense because that’s it’s a lot of hard work. What they do on Christmas Eve. So training makes sense. Yes. They have to stay in tip top shape.

00;03;42;06 – 00;04;09;01
Unknown
Do the reindeer ever get to go inside or do they get some rest time? Oh, of course, of course they do. No, I know, I know, Taskmaster. I don’t force them to to do to do to work. They, they love what they do, but they also have families and, you know, they have, that we have a lovely, stable at the North Pole and, they can they can go in there whenever they get cold or hungry.

00;04;09;05 – 00;04;33;05
Unknown
They’re very well taken care of. We have a whole, a whole department of elves that, that just look after the reindeer. They they feed them, give them water, brush their coats, trim their antlers. If they’re getting a little too wild. You know, they are so well taken care of, and and I hope that shows because, because I do love all of them.

00;04;33;07 – 00;05;04;17
Unknown
How do you keep your sleigh flying when it’s like windy or something. Oh yes. Well, the reindeer have been trained to be able to fly into the wind. Right. So they can, they can judge the best course of action. They almost have like a sixth sense about which direction the wind is blowing. So we can deviate from the route a little bit so that we can make sure that we are, are traveling mostly with the wind and not into it or across it.

00;05;04;20 – 00;05;29;29
Unknown
So we’ve got we’ve got a little tailwind there too. That speeds up a little bit. Oh, cool. There you go. Because and then we also had a similar question to that as well. What’s that is how can you can fly in a blizzard. Oh well, Rudolph’s nose does lead the way. Like I said, we do use some sophisticated GPS tracking systems.

00;05;30;02 – 00;05;56;09
Unknown
We didn’t always have that. We had to rely on flying low and being able to to note, to see landmarks. But, you know, we were early adopters of that kind of technology. Lots of people wanted to help us out. So, we got on that that bandwagon pretty quickly, you know, and, you know, no GPS is able to keep every address in, but it keeps us going in the right direction.

00;05;56;09 – 00;06;19;06
Unknown
We know which town road heading to next, which direction to head and and like I said, we do take into account the winds and the the radar. So, if I can’t see just directly ahead of me because of the snow, we do have, like I said, GPS, sonar, technology, all kinds of things that will help us see where we’re going and know where we’re going.

00;06;19;06 – 00;06;48;11
Unknown
Yes. Good questions. Yes. Santa is very techie. I don’t think I knew that. You know, we’ve been doing this a very, very long time since before there was electronics. We do also have a magic compass that will point us in the right direction as well. Yes. So if if the batteries die and the GPS says or the Bluetooth goes down, we can rely on the old standby, and the magic compass and pocket watch will get us where we need to go as well.

00;06;48;12 – 00;07;08;21
Unknown
Yes. Oh! There we go. We’re learning some secrets here. I didn’t know that. How do you make sure you can kind of be on the nice list? What are some things that you can do to to make sure you’re not on the naughty list and that you’re, a nice list. Good question. That’s a very good question.

00;07;08;23 – 00;07;32;13
Unknown
Now, I think the number one thing is, listen, if you listen to to the grown ups in your life who are just trying to look out for you and make sure that you’re still on the straight and narrow, that’s number one. Listen and respond with kindness and and, and grace. Number two, clean your room. Yeah.

00;07;32;15 – 00;07;57;08
Unknown
There’s, you know, I’m not saying that a dirty room is going to take you right off the nice list, but, you know, it’s always better. It’s easier to walk through a clean room, and, number three, just always do your best, you know? As long as you are trying hard and doing your best. I don’t see any reason why you wouldn’t make the nice list.

00;07;57;11 – 00;08;15;12
Unknown
Now, if you come Desantis’s village and you’re on the naughty list. This is what I. What? You what? What? I’ve been telling people who come to visit us while I’m there. If you’ve come to Santa Village and you’re on the naughty list, there is a trap door at the gate to the park, and you will fall in if you’re on the naughty list.

00;08;15;12 – 00;08;40;00
Unknown
We have a detector at the front gate. Do you ever wear jeans and a t shirt? Oh, of course. I have some lovely pairs of red jeans. You know, most people wear blue jeans. I like mine. Red. And I have some, if, in fact, this summer at the village, when it got very hot, I wore, I wore, lovely red and white striped t shirt.

00;08;40;02 – 00;09;00;25
Unknown
You know, you can’t wear a, a wool suit every day. Not when it’s very warm in the summer. It’s a in the winter time. It’s, red wool suit is great because it will keep you warm, and it’s very easy to see in the snow. So, but, you know, I, I do have some casual looks as well.

00;09;00;29 – 00;09;19;10
Unknown
I, you know, I’m not wearing I’m not wearing a full, my, my full traditional suit right now either. Just I want it to be casual for you. This is just supposed to be fun, right? So let’s keep it a little lighter. There we go. Santa has got a whole wardrobe. Oh. He do? Oh, Mrs. Claus is a fashion plate.

00;09;19;13 – 00;09;43;27
Unknown
She has the best dresses and pantsuits and, you know, fur muffs. She’s. I love her so much. And she is just wonderful. And she. Oh, you want to talk about outfits? Oh, she looks great every day. What do you do during the rest of the year? Oh, sure. Christmas is done, and the busyness is immediately after Christmas is done.

00;09;43;27 – 00;10;07;03
Unknown
The day after the big trip. Mrs. Claus and I get in the sleigh and go to Tahiti. We we, we have worked so hard for an entire year to get things ready. We give the elves, two weeks off as well. They all get a nice break, and they can go off wherever they do. So the things are generally much quieter right after Christmas at the North Pole.

00;10;07;05 – 00;10;31;09
Unknown
But we do love our our tropical vacations in right after Christmas. The rest of the year. You know, things have to start right away. We are visiting over a billion people a year. So you have to start early to get, to get things ready. So we start preparing the lists in January. By February, the toy production line is back up and running again.

00;10;31;11 – 00;10;52;13
Unknown
And we’re doing some checking in on, things, you know. My friends like the Easter Bunny and the tooth fairy. They help, you know, we get information. We share information, let’s say. I do say take some time off in the summer, like, like you have visited. And I have mentioned that I do like to, to go to Santas Village, and spend the summers there because.

00;10;52;13 – 00;11;16;19
Unknown
Oh, it’s it’s just so lovely and it’s so nice to visit with people. When there’s not that pressure of Christmas shopping and, all the, the hubbub of Christmas, too. So just to meet people in a more relaxed, setting is lovely, too. So, you know, we do have some off time, but we also are always in communication with the workshop and and things will the production will almost never stop.

00;11;16;21 – 00;11;36;27
Unknown
We we look at the forecast for what next year’s hot Toys will be. We start to see how things can ramp up and we always, we always make sure that, that there’s something going on. Except for those two weeks after Christmas, we shut everything down and everyone gets a rest. That’s nice, because I feel like it’s a very busy time.

00;11;36;27 – 00;11;59;09
Unknown
Something a bit of rest is important. Exactly. You you can’t, you can’t, just be go, go, go. And especially right after Christmas, you know, everyone leaves me cookies. And like I said, I visit a billion people. That’s a lot of cookies to eat in one day. I do bring some home. So if I if you’ve left me cookies and they haven’t been eaten, I do apologize.

00;11;59;10 – 00;12;21;28
Unknown
I may just have been a little fool at that time, but, you know, a billion cookies. Oh, I do. I love them, though. Oh, my goodness, the cookies are so good. We had a question about that. What is your favorite type of cookie? Oh, well, I have two favorite cookies. Two favorite types of cookies. Store bought and homemade.

00;12;22;00 – 00;12;44;14
Unknown
This is good answer. Yes, but generally, if if someone asked me that in person, I generally turn around and find out what their. What’s your favorite cookie? My favorite cookie I don’t know, I have a lot of favorite cookies. But probably right now they’re not really like cookie cookies. They’re kind of like mini. They’re like Chip Ahoy cookies.

00;12;44;17 – 00;13;12;20
Unknown
And they they look rainbow because they have, like, different colored M&Ms. And oh, those sound delicious. I love to try everyone’s favorite cookie. So if everyone just left me their favorite cookie, I would get to try everyone’s favorite cookies. And that just be wonderful. Oh, now I want to try everybody’s favorite cookie to me to I really fun to you want to be sent a billion cookies, a billion cookies.

00;13;12;23 – 00;13;39;12
Unknown
How do people not wake up when you visit all. Well, we do have some special, protection. Quiet magic. So, you know, the even even your animals don’t know we’re in and out. We have to go so quickly. I mean, I know we do. I did say we slow down time, but still, it’s it’s only one night, and I can only stretch things so much, so I have to be in and out very, very quickly.

00;13;39;15 – 00;14;05;27
Unknown
So, I do have sort of a cloak of of of quietness around me. I can sneak in and out. You know, I’ve been doing this for a very long time, so, most chimneys are not a hazard anymore. I can slip down and back up very quickly if you don’t have a chimney. I think I have a do have a magic key that will let me in your back door or front door, whichever door is most, closest to the Christmas tree.

00;14;06;04 – 00;14;34;19
Unknown
So I can get in and out pretty quickly. And, the combination of speed and my cloak of silence, that really helps. Yeah. I mean, did you have any other questions for Santa? Not really. But, like, do you care, dear? I mean, do you reindeers eat, like, as much carrots as you eat as much cookies?

00;14;34;21 – 00;15;01;12
Unknown
Well, yes, yes they do. But you know, they are working very hard and so they need that energy. Yeah. You know, even just a short hop from rooftop to rooftop requires a lot of energy. So, they, you know, carrots, celery, oats. You know, don’t leave them cookies. That’s not really good for reindeer digestion, but vegetables, they do love vegetables.

00;15;01;18 – 00;15;25;02
Unknown
So, that it really does help. So. Yes. Thank you for thinking of them. Yeah. Did you have any questions? I don’t think so. Santa, did you have any questions for us or anything you wanted to say to the children in our area here? Now, for all the children that are listening or watching, I do want to say, I hope that you are listening.

00;15;25;05 – 00;15;43;26
Unknown
Like I said, that’s the best way to stay on the next list. Stay good. And, I hope I hope that, that you have the most joyful Christmas that you can possibly have. And remember, if there’s a present that you’ve asked for that I haven’t been able to bring, just know that it’s not because I.

00;15;44;02 – 00;16;04;02
Unknown
I didn’t want to. Sometimes these things just happen. And and I bring you the present that that I really I for a present that I really think you’re going to love. So I want you to know that I do love you and that I want to I want everyone to have the best Christmas they possibly can have. Yeah.

00;16;04;04 – 00;16;27;21
Unknown
Well, thank you, Santa. We really appreciate you talking to us today and taking, like I said, your time and, sharing with us all the behind the scenes of Christmas. It was fantastic. This was so lovely. Thank you ladies. I do appreciate it. It’s always good to talk to to friends. And, I hope you two also have a wonderful holiday season.

00;16;27;23 – 00;16;36;05
Unknown
Thank you. Merry Christmas, happy holidays Santa. Merry Christmas to you, too. Oh.

00;16;36;07 – 00;16;36;18
Unknown
You.