elcome to the North Pole, the home of Santa's workshop. Here at the North Pole the forecast is always for snow, the Christmas lights are always on, burning brightly, and the elves are working hard in preparation for our big mission on Christmas eve.

Many people have asked why Santa delivers presents to all good children in the world. The answer is really quite simple -- Love. The Christmas season is a time when grudges and ill-will can be put aside and people can show the greater good that is buried -- sometimes rather deeply inside of all of us.

At no other time during the year is charity and goodwill more abundant than at Christmas. It is what truly makes it such a magical time for all of us.

Santa Claus is a symbol of the season and of the inherent good in all of us.  His work at the North Pole year-round is geared towards the Christmas mission, which is to spread love, hope and goodwill to children and adults alike all around the world.

Unfortunately, not all children have the same opportunities in our world. The less fortunate are always a special concern of Kriss Kringle.

If you know of children in need in the Missouri-Kansas area that would benefit from a visit by  Santa Claus during the Christmas season, please contact us at the North Pole to discuss arrangements for a special visit from the Jolly Ole Elf.

Santa's village facts
Santa's workshop has one large main house, which includes Kriss Kringle's residence, the main workshop, cafeteria and of course the world's largest toy room.

Elves live in smaller dwellings surrounding the main house. There is a post office for letters from good boys and girls around the world, and there is a stable for all the reindeer. Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder and Blitzen -- The Magnificent Eight as they have long been known at the North Pole, have upgraded accommodations, since they have earned it with all the years of dedicated service to the mission. Don't fret, Rudolph, who came along later, also has upscale housing.

A landing field can be found near the reindeer stables. This is where Santa takes off every Christmas eve and lands every Christmas morning after his mission has been completed. The landing field is also used as the reindeer train throughout the year, preparing for their Christmas eve flight every year.

Santa's village is approximately 1,700 years old. How old is Santa? Well, he has been around a long time and obviously benefits from living in the bitter cold of the North Pole. Santa prefers to think of age as a state of mind, rather than a real number.

Santa's village is like a small city, busy every day of the year except for Christmas Day of course.

Elves
Where did they come from? How did they come to be? No one really knows. But suffice to say that Santa's elves are fantastic workers. Their only goal in life is to work hard and make sure the Christmas mission is a success. The Elves are a very busy group. They enjoy working. In fact they would rather work than watch television or go to a movie. They find that sort of thing boring, but they enjoy work, which is why they are so efficient and able to turn out so many toys each year for the boys and girls of the world.

It is very difficult to get a photo of one of Santa's elves. They are always  busy and prefer not to have the pictures taken, which is why you rarely see any pictures of them. They are very happy just doing their work and creating new and fun toys for children of all ages.

If you are lucky enough to get a photo of one of the elves, he or she will usually have work tools in their hands and be walking very briskly to work. You rarely see an elf at rest and they don't sleep much. They don't need much sleep and they find sleeping to be rather boring. They would much rather be building something or taking care of the reindeer or planning this year's Christmas mission.

Elves are usually between three and four feet tall. They live to be at least 3,000 years old! They don't require a lot of food and they have tremendous amounts of energy, which they funnel into their daily work.

Contrary to popular opinion, not all elves have the same skills. Some are good toy makers, while others are better working with the reindeer, some are more geared toward technology, so they handle the database of the naughty and nice list, and still others prefer to work at maintaining and building new workshops in Santa's village.

Regardless of their talents, they all have the common trait of being tireless workers and dedication to the Christmas mission.

Mrs. Claus
She is the secret driving force behind the whole North Pole operation. Mrs. Claus tends to the everyday operations at the North Pole, while Santa oversees toy production, maps out faster travel plans for the Christmas mission and closely watches over the reindeer.

Mrs. Claus takes care of everything else and keeps the operation running smoothly. She prefers to stay in the background and she is so private that no one is really sure what her first name is. Many have speculated it is Holly, Angel or Christy. However, it is believed that her real first name is Noel, but that still can't be confirmed.

While she prefers to stay in the background and out of the spotlight, the entire North Pole operation would come to a grinding halt without the expert guidance and influence of Mrs. Claus.

 How long have the Claus been married? That too is up for speculation, since neither Santa or Mrs. Claus will provide a definite answer. They just laugh and say that it has been a very long time, but to them it seems just like yesterday.

The Magnificent Eight
Most folks outside of Santa's village probably aren't sure what you mean when you refer to the "Magnificent Eight." But you can be sure that anyone inside Santa's village is keenly aware of what you mean by it.

The "Magnificent Eight" refers to the eight original members of Santa's team of reindeer. Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder and Blitzen. Before Rudolph, the most famous reindeer of all came along, the "eight tiny reindeer" carried the load on Christmas eve every year. That was not a problem except when the team would run into bad weather. Blizzards in the northern part of the world and typhoons in the south and fog in between made the annual trips risky to put it mildly.

Then, about 100 years after the original eight reindeer began the annual Christmas mission, along came a very unique reindeer with a bright red nose that could illuminate the night sky and work as a headlight for Santa's sleigh to guide the team through the worst weather conditions. The rest as they say, is history. Rudolph has led the team for many, many years and continues to do so to this day. His nose lights up the night sky on Christmas eve and the best part is it never needs batteries!

Why the North Pole?
Many have wondered why would Santa Claus choose the North Pole, with its freezing temperatures all year long, for his home and workshops. Just remember that Santa Claus belongs to the world -- to any country -- so the top of the world, which is not owned by any one country seemed to be the perfect spot for Kriss Kringle.

Also, elves prefer to work in solitude and the feeling was that much more could be accomplished if the elves were isolated from everyone and out of site. Can you imagine Santa's workshop in a major city? All of the TV cameras and attention it would draw would take away from the ultimate goal -- the Christmas mission.

So to be sure that presents could be made, wrapped and that everything would be ready to go on Christmas eve, the North Pole was picked as the location of Santa's workshops and village many, many years ago.

Plus, it is a great spot for a large telescope!