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(Photo courtesy: Bearded A. Photography)

Joplin, MO (KSNF/KODE) — A lot of parents like their children to believe in Santa Claus so they can enjoy the season with a sense of child-like wonder. This time of the year, parents are often faced with questions, like, ‘How does he delivers all the presents? And how’s he able to fit down the chimney?’ So, if you’re stuck this year, no need to worry — we were able to speak with the “man in the red suit” himself.

Santa took a few minutes to answer questions a skeptical child is likely to ask around Christmas time.

How Old Is Santa Claus?

“Very, very old! I started out as Saint Nicholas many years ago, in the area of 300 A.D. So that’s almost 2000 years!”

Is The Shopping Center Santa The REAL Santa?

“Especially at Christmas time, Santa is so busy. I’ve got so much going on at the North Pole but I need a lot of helpers. So what I have is a lot of guys who will dress up in a suit that looks like mine, go out to the mall or other shopping places, and help me out by taking requests, listening to what the kids want for Christmas. And then they make sure that they get those to me in the North Pole and can get those gifts requests fulfilled. Now sometimes I do show up and so you never know when you might be talking to the real Santa.”

How Can Father Christmas Come Down The Chimney And Not Get Burned?

“There’s a whole lot of magic that goes on Christmas Eve night. Christmas Eve night is the most magical night of the year. Lots of things happen on that special night that doesn’t happen on any other night of the year. For example, a lot of fireplaces won’t have a fire in them overnight when I come down the chimney. But if they do, we’ve got some Christmas magic that allows us to make those flames stand still so that Santa can get through them and not get burned.”

How Does Father Christmas Have Time To Get Around All The Houses In The World In One Night?

“On Christmas Eve night there’s an awful lot of magic that takes place. There’s a mix of magic and science Santa has been perfecting for the Christmas Eve flight for many, many years. I’ve got a whole team of elves that helped me work it out. So we’ve got some science involved, we’ve got some laws of physics that are involved, but also can get broken. On that particular night, more magic than any other night can get my reindeer and I all around the world in the amount of time that’s needed to get there. Magic is involved, but there are some things that we’ve worked out over the years at the North Pole.”

Do All The Presents For All The Children In The World Fit On The Sleigh Or Does Santa Have To Go Home To Stock Up?

“Oh no, we don’t have to make any return trips to the North Pole. It all fits this way. I know it doesn’t seem like it would, but it all fits into the sleigh. On our Christmas Eve flight, we’ve got a lot of magic involved and even though the sleigh doesn’t look that big, you would be amazed at how much we can fit into one sleigh.” We have a way of making gifts smaller and more compact, and then when we deliver them to the house, they get to their full size. It’s kind of like Santa sliding down the chimney. Sometimes there’s not enough room for Santa to get down the chimney, but with a little bit of Christmas magic, we can adjust the shape of things to get through there.”

We Don’t Have A Chimney. How Will He Get In?

“That’s no problem, we can get in even if you don’t have a fireplace. The fireplace is my preferred method of getting in because it’s easy to land on a rooftop with the sleigh and the reindeer and just jump down the chimney. But if you don’t have a chimney or a fireplace in your house, I have a very special magic ring that I wear on my hand and in that ring is embedded a very special rock. It’s a stone that we pulled up from the bottom of the Arctic ocean near the North Pole, and that very special stone has some magical properties — it will unlock any lock in the world. But, it only works on one night of the year which is Christmas Eve. So I carry that ring with me on my hand at all times. And on Christmas Eve I just hold it up to the door, it unlocks, I walk in, set out the gifts, and come out. But like I said, my preferred method of delivering gifts is to go down through the chimney.”

Why Don’t The Reindeer Finish The Carrots We Leave Out, And Why Doesn’t Santa Eat All The Cookies Or Finish The Glass Of Milk?

“I have to get to millions of houses around the world all in one night. And if I ate cookies at millions of houses, um, I would be way too heavy for the sleigh and the reindeer to hold me up in the sky. And so uh while I do like to sample all of the cookies at the places where there’s just no way I could eat all of those in one night. It’s also how we prevent my reindeer from getting stomach aches. But, if I eat all those cookies, I would be so sick at my stomach, so I don’t want that to happen which is why I don’t eat all of the cookies. Every once in a while, at some houses, I do eat all the cookies, but most of the time I just eat part of them.”

How Come Santa’s Reindeer Can Fly But Normal Ones Can’t?

“The reindeer that we breed at the North Pole are magical — they’re very special, and by the way, they don’t fly all the time. I’ve got different ways of getting around. For example, I’ve got a train called the Polar Express. So I don’t always fly with them, but I do fly with them particularly on Christmas Eve and we spend the whole year working on their magic and working on their abilities to fly, so that when it’s time for Christmas Eve, they’re ready to fly.”

How Does He Really Know If Kids Have Been Good Or Bad?

“That is another method we’ve perfected over the years: Checking our naughty and nice list. Now most people think I stand up looking at a long scroll with all of the names on them, but there’s just too many kids in the world now for us to use a scroll like that. It would take up rooms and rooms, so we’ve gotten a little bit more modern as times have evolved. I’ve got a whole department of elves that are in charge of the naughty and nice list and it’s not really so much of a list, it’s a computer based program that has all of that information on it. Those elves keep track of that and anytime I need a report on who’s being naughty and who’s being nice, they can pull up that report and send it to me right away.”

Why Does Santa Have The Same Wrapping Paper As My Mom?

“You wouldn’t imagine the size of the operation that we have at the North Pole. I mean, we have to make wrapping paper and we have to make gifts. We also have to make ribbon and bows. Sometimes we have to purchase those items from different places in different stores. Usually it’s just a coincidence if mom and Santa use the same wrapping paper, but it does happen from time to time.”