My 9 year old daughter has handed in her Christmas wish list, but
added this at the end:

Dear Santa, leave this at my home once you?re done.

Questions for Santa

1. How do you get all around the world in only 2 nights?
     Answer:
2. Why do a lot of people think you?re fake?
     Answer:
3. How do you spell your last name? Claus. Or Clause?
    Answer:

She leaves room for only 2 lines for each question.

I?m trying to be a bit evasive, but still truthful. Can you help?

Dear drappier,

Well, let us see if we can satisfy your daughter's thirst for
knowledge. I did my best to write answers that are plausible and
truthful as well as brief and not too definite - but you will have to
write in very narrow letters, I'm afraid. Maybe Santa Claus can leave
a seperate slip of paper with the answers?


1. How do you get all around the world in only 2 nights?
  
   Answer:
Actually, I have many colleagues in all parts of the world who help me
during that exhausting time of the year: Sinterklaas and his helper
Swarte Piet in the Netherlands, Père Noël in France, Weihnachtsmann
and Christkind in Germany ... that makes it much easier. Only Father
Frost in Russia is a bit lazy, he won't bring the children their
presents until 6 January.


2. Why do a lot of people think you?re fake?
 
    Answer:
Because many people suffer from a deplorable lack of imagination. A
lot of people also thought that man could never build an aeroplane, or
get to the Moon, and others could not imagine that the world was
round. Such lack of imaginativeness is indeed a very sad thing.


3. How do you spell your last name? Claus. Or Clause?

    Answer:
"Claus" for my friends. "Nikolaos" for all the boring adults. It's a
Greek name, because I was born in the Greek town of Patara 1800 years
ago. Later, I became bishop of Myra, and more later even a saint ...
Saint Nikolaos - Santa Claus. You see?


I hope that these answers will satisfy your daughter!
Best regards and merry Christmas,
Scriptor

Thank you, scriptor. Very nice.

Answer 2: A lot of people say they think I'm fake because I don't
bring them any presents. They're just trying to hide the fact that
they haven't been good this year.

Owain

Hello Drappier,

  I have been asked the same questions by my children and have explained;

1.	How do you get all around the world in only 2 nights?

Answer:  When there is day on one side of the earth it is night on the
other side.  Where it may appear there are only so many hours of
darkness where we live (14 for us), it is in fact night somewhere in
the world, at all times. (I also used a globe to demonstrate this
point.)

2.	Why do a lot of people think you?re fake?

Answer:  There are some people who don?t believe in things that they
haven?t seen, can?t see or can?t explain.  But just because you don?t
see something doesn?t mean it isn?t there? you can?t see the air in a
balloon but you know it is there because it is inflated.

3.	How do you spell your last name? Claus. Or Clause?

Answer:  The correct spelling is ?Claus.?   ?Clause? is word that
means something else (dictionary if needed ? if there is a follow up
question ;-)  I also explained that it is his American name as he has
other names in different countries. In Britain for example he is known
as ?Father Christmas?, in Germany he is ?Nikolaus? and in Denmark he
is known as ?Julemanden?? lots of different and colorful names.  The
reason why we call him ?Santa Claus? goes why back to when the Dutch
colonized America.  The Dutch call Santa ?Sinterklaas? and the English
speaking childen back then changed it a little and pronounced it
?Sainty Claus? which then progressed into the name we use today,
?Santa Claus.?

I hope that helps some too,
And may you and your family have a Merry Christmas,
And a Happy New Year!

Lugh

Ho, ho, ho,

I will answer the questions but only if you really open minded will
you agree with the answers. Santa comes to the open minded!

2 nights?

Well, I don't go everywhere. And I travel at such a speed that I can
go back in time. And, well, I use "reciprocity" (cloning doesn't just
work for sheeps). There are other reasons but I figured I keep this
short.

People think I'm fake because I guess they didn't make the nice and
open minded list and didn't get presents! It doesn't bother me if they
think that. In fact, I'd think they were a bit strange if they didn't
think it was fake. I mean if I weren't me, and someone said there was
a guy who delivered gifts all around the world, and went down
chimneys, I'd say it was a fake. It's okay... kids think I'm real and
there will always be kids.

And, boy do I love to write letters to the kids! Christmas letters bring magic.

Letters from Santa bring smiles galore! Btw, I found a site that will
answer these questions and write a letter to everyone you
know!http://researchonkids.com


Merry Christmas to the believers,

Santa Claus