Ask a New Yorker: Santa, let’s start with an easy question. How may lights
are on the Rockefeller
Center Christmas tree?
Santa: There are 30,000 lights strung along five miles of wire. It’s a
gorgeous 75-foot tall Norway Spruce. It’s a spectacular tree, one of my
favorites in the world.
Ask a New Yorker: How old are you?
Santa: Let’s just say I stopped counting at 550.
Ask a New Yorker: How many stops do you make on Christmas Eve?
Santa: There are 2.2 billion children, people under 18, on the planet. You do
the math.
Ask a New Yorker: Does Santa really need snow to make his deliveries?
Santa: No, I don’t need snow to make my deliveries. As long as there is
snow somewhere in the world (and there always is) the deliveries will go through!
After all, I do deliver to Florida, California, Asia, Central America, South
America, Africa and other areas that have no snow. Snow always makes it much
more beautiful and I always love seeing the holidays lights and homes nestled
in the snow.
Ask a New Yorker: Do you have a favorite holiday meal?
Santa: I love duck. Mrs. Claus makes the most outstanding duck l’orange.
She also makes a delicious soup, a chestnut soup with Nova Scotia lobster and
a beet salad with pears and blue cheese.
Ask a New Yorker: What kind of snack do you like left out for you while you
deliver gifts?
Santa: I love cookies of course, chocolate macadamia nut is my favorite but
I’m always happy to try something new. People really don’t know
this, Ask a New Yorker heard it first, but I’m lactose intolerant. So
I’m always appreciative when soy milk is available. Towards the end of
the long night I admit I’m always grateful when there’s a Grand
Marnier left out.
Ask a New Yorker: And all those years I’ve been leaving you whole milk!
Sorry. Do you watch any reality TV, The Biggest Loser perhaps?
Santa: We love the biggest Loser. Jillian and Bob rock! As you can see, I could
stand to lose a few pounds (chuckles) but I’ve been eating a lot healthier
these days. I even tried fasting last year for three days. It was really quite
an amazing experience.
Ask a New Yorker: What’s it like delivering presents to the White House?
The security must be really tight.
Santa: We’re on a very-time sensitive schedule as you can imagine. The
secret service knows exactly when we’re going to land. I’ve been
touching down on the South Lawn since Washington was president. So we know the
lay of the land, so to speak. When Kennedy was President, John Jr. snuck out
of bed and was waiting for us. We had a nice little chat. I’m sure he
had an interesting story to tell the President the next day.
Ask a New Yorker: Give us your top ten favorite Christmas songs?
Santa: I love The Boss. Bruce’s “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”
is the favorite. What can I say; it completely rocks and gets the team so pumped
up for the night. “Silent Night” by The Temptations, “The
Little Drummer Boy” by Bing and David Bowie, what a duet! Elvis’s
“Blue Christmas”, Nat King Cole’s “The Christmas song”,
& of course Bing’s “White Christmas”, and again Bowie
and Bing hit one out of the park with “Peace On Earth”, just amazing.
Doris Day’s “Winter Wonderland”, “Have Yourself A Merry
Little Christmas”. Tony Bennett, Toni Braxon, & The Carpenters have
all recorded terrific versions of this winter warmer but the late Rosemary Clooney
nailed it. And last but not least, Wham’s George Michael sings “
Last Christmas” and is pretty good. Whatever happened to him anyway?
Ask a New Yorker: How does one become an elf?
Santa: The best way is to do well in school, be good and to be no more than
4ft tall.
Ask a New Yorker: Where do you and Mrs. Claus go during the Spring and Summer?
Santa: Mrs. Claus and I love the beach. Last year we did a tour of the Hawaiian
Islands. We fell in love with Kauai, and The Four Seasons on the Big Island
was first rate.
Ask a New Yorker: Mele Kalikimaka (Hawaiian for Merry Christmas)! You must get
mobbed on the beach?
Santa: (winks) I shave the beard off so people won’t recognize me so readily.
Ask a New Yorker: Cool. Have you gotten a flu shot?
Santa: Absolutely, I cannot afford getting sick.
Ask a New Yorker: God, it must be interesting delivering presents to The Vatican.
What do you get a Pope?
Santa: The Vatican has held the same policy since I don’t know when. But
we’ve been asked just to drop off a ton of presents which they give to
the poor in and around Rome.
Ask a New Yorker: Any last thoughts you would like to share?
Santa: Well, this year I’m really pushing harder than ever the Christmas
message of Peace. The world is a mess. I’m not happy about the wars going
on. Certainly the planet is going through some tough times too. We recycle everything
in the North Pole and try to set an example of tolerance. Mrs. Claus and I and
all my elves and reindeer really embrace the idea of giving. There’s too
much greed and materialism now. If people would just give of themselves, that
means their time and attention to those less fortunate, the world would be a
far better place for all of us.
Ask a New Yorker: Well said, Santa. Thank you for your time and happy New Year.
