Children often have some kind of live animal on their Christmas wish list. Usually it's a puppy or a kitten; but, I have been asked for a hamster, lizard, horse, iguana, frog, and a spider. And I'm sure I'll be asked for other live animals, too, at some point! Sometimes the parents try to indicate to me that it's okay, as if to say that the child is getting a puppy or kitten or some other live animal. Sometimes, though, the parents are absolutely not getting their child a live animal and the look of fear at how I might answer the question is...well...kinda funny, honestly!

I used to explain that traveling at a minimum of 650 miles per second is really too dangerous for live animals, so I leave those things up to the parents to take care of. But, I've found that kids get lost in the technical aspects of how the magic works, and besides, that's not even the real reason...

"You see, I'm a toy maker. Admittedly, I'm the best toy maker in the history of...well, toys! But, I'm still a toy maker. I don't know how to make live animals! I could make you a toy puppy or toy kitten, but a live one...well, I just don't have that kind of magic, so I don't know how make live animals. So, I will leave that one up to your parents and get you something else that's really special!"

It warms my heart when children ask me this question, and it's my favorite question to answer, even if their parent(s) did prompt them to ask it! My answer is simple, but a little different than what I think parents expect to hear:

For Christmas, and all year long, I want all the little boys and girls in the world to teach all of the adults in the world how to be kind, respectful, patient, and loving towards one another!

The short answer is: millions!  You see, there are millions of Field Elves that are dispatched to homes all over the world.  These Field Elves help keep an eye on kids and report back to me so I can keep the Nice List and the Naughty List up to date.  Field Elves are more commonly known as "Elf on a Shelf," and they're an important part of my operation.  Aside from Field Elves, there are also the elves that live and work in the North Pole.

I get this sort of question from adults fairly often.  When I'm in the Big Red Suit, my name is Santa Claus and I'm from the North Pole. That's it, really.  If pressed, I can go into a little more detail, but I won't "break character."  Remember that scene in "The Santa Claus" where Santa, played by Tim Allen, gets arrested and he's being asked his name and he keeps replying that his name is Santa in various languages?  Yeah, you can expect something like that from me, too!